











>>)S 



^»m 



II >i ^^ 



# LIBRARY OFjJONGRESS.Ii 

'i ^^^.J):3..: 






UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 












r^ ^^^^ >-x>>^o> J»» L 

»>^^ j> ;2^^ 3> J» :J>J -^:» 


















:> ,^>' 
























>^^S> 



5 3^ 



>>^ 
>>.^^ 






























Su,o- 



THE 



FARMER'S AND HORSEMAN'S 



GUIDE TO DEIVE THE HORSE; 



THE RIGHT AKD W EOISG WAY TO DRIVE A HORSE 
rUI>LY EXPOSED AND EXPLAINED. 



-^N ■ •■ On 



^ 




J/OHN DEENEY. X^r^^'" '^'' 



r^'; 






NEW YORK: 
MoGEE tt WARREN, PRINTERS, 647 BROADWAY. 

1872. 



SF30b' 



Entered according to A.ct of Congress, in the year 1 8T2, by Johx Deemby, in 
the Clerk's offlce of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



INDEX TO TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Page 

The Wrong Way to Bit a Colt 9 

The Wrong Way to Drive a Horse 11 

Different Ways and Habits of Men in Driving Horses 12 

The Young Man's Style of Driving the Horse 14 

The Old Gentleman's Style of Driving the Horse 18 

Every Man's Notion in Driving a Horse 2'2 

The Way some Men Handle their Horses when they get Scared. . 29 

What you will Hear some Men Say 31 

The Wrong Way to Whip the Balkiness Out of a Horse 42 

General Remarks 48 

How to Drive after a Colt is well Broken 55 

What you Must Never Do 58 

The Way to Punish Your Horse when He Disobeys 62 

Habits of Slack Rein Driving, how to Overcome them ; also 

Balking 73 

A Word to Those who Drive in Single Harness 85 

The Way to Train a Horse to Trot 9(» 

All Harsh Bits Condemned 93 

Conclusion 96 



-. PREFACE 



The author, in publishing this Avork, has done so with an 
anxious desire of placing before the public the result of 
twenty years' experience in the education and management 
of the horse. I will also treat on the new and improved 
method of fully eradicating the bad und vicious habits 
occasioned by the ill management of drivers. To give a 
clear and comprehensive view, I have deemed it necessaiy 
to give the wrong Avay of driving, as practiced by the great 
majority of men, together with the right way, which needs 
but to be read to be appreciated. In treating on this 
subject,! am conscious that T am obliged to contend with many 
and obstinate difficulties. Owing to the many and various 
works that have been published, each contradicting and 
condemning in a great measure the other, it is not to 
be wondered at that the public, and especially those 
practically engaged in the management of horses, should de- 
nounce all works on this subject as an imposition. A 
great and distinguished poet has said : " He that cheats me 
once, ^ame to him ; but he that cheats me twice, shame to 
me." So it is with the great majority of men ; they have 
been imposed on, and learned to their sorrow that those 



VI PKEFACE. 

writers profess to teach impossibilities. Now, why should 
I hesitate to believe that I must necessarily expect to meet 
with like censure, until time and a fair trial shall establish 
ray reputation and prove my ability to accomplish what I 
profess to do ? I do not claim to break a horse in one or two 
hours ; and boldly and emphatically say, that those who make 
the pretension endeavor to impose on your credulity. Honv 
many of those horse-breakers and tamers have met witii 
invariable success ? We hear of them, read their books and 
follow their instructions. Evidently they prove a failure. 
We abandon them as unworthy the name they bear, and 
soon they dwindle into oblivion. Do not understand me to 
say that all they teach is wrong ; certainly not. They give 
some very good instructions, together with a mass of 
absurdity. I have carefully and perseveringly devoted my 
time and experience to the preparation of this little book, 
hoping thereby to merit the approbation of my readers. To 
make it equally beneficial to the old and the young, has 
been my constant endeavor and earnest desire. 

A boy of fifteen will become interested in its perusal, and 
consequently he will learn a system of breaking and driving 
the horse which will be a gratification and pleasure to him, 
and highly profitable to the value of the horse. Had he not 
a guide to instruct him in what manner to proceed, he would 
necessarily adopt some method of his own. Now it is 
manifestly evident that this inexperienced youth will break 



his colt with an honest conviction that he is pursuing a 
prudent and proper course. And why not ? Doubtless his 
father followed the same way • and through tedious and dis- 
heartening trials they got the colt so far under control as to 
drive him with great caution. 

With these few introductory remarks, I will commence 
my little volume by giving you ray objections to the old- 
fashioned way of bitting, and also the method of bitting with 
the cord. Thus we shall see the value and necessity of a work- 
like this; and with feelings of gratitude and respect, and 
anticipa.tion of future success, I submit this little work to 
your charit^able and unselfish inspection. 

" Whosoever thinks a faultless piece to see, 
Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be ; 
In every work, regard the writer's end, 
Since none can compass more than they intend ; 
And if the means be just, the conduct true, 
Applause, in spite of trivial faults, is due," — Popk. 



FARMER^S AND HORSEMAN'S GUIDE. 



THE WRONG WAY TO BIT A COLT. 

" The wrong way to bit a colt is to put on the old-fashioned 
bitting harness. The practice which has been adopted bj 
most farmers, of placing the bitting harness on the horse 
and buckling up his head as high as they can, also drawing 
the side-straps very short, and then turning him out in a 
pasture, is not only cruel, but gives a very ungraceful 
stiffness to the horse's neck. How often has it been the 
case where horses, turned out in such a position, have 
reared and thrown themselves upon the ground, struck their 
head upon a log or some other hard substance, and lost their 
life ?" I claim that your colt has every chance to learn some 
bad habit, to bit him in this way before you commence to 
drive him. He is at liberty to learn the habit of lying down in 
the harness when you would leave him hitched to a post. 
This he learns in your old way of bitting. You would find hira 
lying in the field. And your colt don't know any difference 
between the common harness and the bitting harness. He 
is at liberty to pull seven hundred pounds on the bit, and you 
have no way of telling him that he is doing wrong. And he 
will keep this habit' for life, if you don't know how to break it 
up. So, with some colts, you never get control of the 
mouth ; and if you have not control of the mouth, you can 
never control your horse. He will learn any habit in the 



10 THE WRONG WAY 

harness that he takes into his head, and you can't avoid it. 
You will see him standing in the field, pulling on the bit; 
and then he,w411 start and run around the field, just the same 
as if he had taken a fit. So you can see, in bitting in this 
w^ay, you let your colt have all his own way, and it becomes 
a habit ; and when you commence to drive Uim, if you don't 
let him have his way, just the same as be had in the bitting 
harness, he will get mad and dance and pull on the bit ; then 
you will let him go off on the trot, and you wdll let him trot 
and drill him down with w^ork until he has no more life than 
an ox ; then you think you have him broken. But put him in 
the stable two or three weeks, and feed him his oats, and then 
harness ^lim up, and you will see you have no control of him 
whatever, until you break him down with work again. This 
is enough to show you that you never got control of your 
horse. I tell you that your colt that you break in this w^ay 
has five chances to learn some bad habit^ where you have 
only one to make him kind and true. It is all luck and 
chance with you. Perhaps you will sa}'', there has been 
many a fine horse well broken with the old bitting harness. 
But no ; you are mistaken. They w^ere broken by some good 
reinsman and a horseman, not with the old bitting harness. 
Now, as for bitting w^ith the cord ; in the first place, it is too 
harsh for the colt's mouth, and it makes it raw and sore; 
and when you come to drive him, you have to drive with a 
slack rein, or you are liable to make him balk ; and slack 
rein driving is no w^ay to drive a horse. It is just like driv- 
ing a pig with a cord fastened to his leg. • He will first run 
into one corner of the fence and then into the other. That 
is the way slack rein driving goes. In bitting with the cord, 
it don't learn your colt to hold up his head ; and you stand 



TO DRIVE A HORSE. 11 

a,t his shoulder arid jerk him first one way and then the 
other ; • he learns nothing, only to lead with the bit in his 
mouth. That is not what you want. You want to learn 
him \o drive ; and if you get control with the cord, then put 
on the common bit and commence to drive him, and you will 
iind he will want bitting with the common bit, because there 
is as much difference between the cord and the common bit 
as there is between the bit and the twist tliat smiths put on 
horses' noses when they are vicious to shoe. The cord is 
the next thing to the twist. Yes, the cord will leani the 
colt to carry his tongue over the bit and out of his mouth, 
and if that is the st^de you want, jerk away with the cord. 



THE WRONG WAY TO DRIVE A HORSE. 

^^Ji ^P'sJlBfci'S^i^^^^ ^*^*^^ around the country, and see 
how some oi the horses are driven that have been bitted 
and broken in the old-fashioned w^a}^; some you will see run- 
ning away from their drivers. x\sk the driver how^ it 
happened, an^ he will tell you that ''it is a fashion the 
horse has ; he will run away every time he takes the notion. 
It makes no difference who drives him, he will run away." 
Another you will see trotting as fast as he can go, pulling 
upon the bit with his mouth wide open, the driver pulling on 
the reins, crying, " Whoa ! whoa! " and there is no whoa. 
Another you will see with a team of horses, one of the 
horses about two feet ahead of the other, and the driver is 
pushing upon the reins and clicking away for his horses to 
go. Another horse you will see just getting ready to start, 
and he is rearing up and dancing all over the road, and the 



12 THE VVKUNG WAV 

driver is crying, "Whoa! whoa!" and he might as well say. 
'* Go! go !" foB there is no whoa. Another man you will see 
starting a team of horses with a load, and his horses are 
flying back and forth, just like a pair of flying- shuttles. The 
driver keeps driving and whipping until he has his horses 
badly balked. This is a specimen of some of the horses 
that are broken in the old-fashioned way. I will tell you what 
it is in breaking horses in the old way — it is something like 
playing checkei-s ; if you don't move so and so, you lose the 
whole game. 



DIFFERENT WAYS AND HABITS OF MEN 

IN DRIVING HORSES. 
The first is a habit that most all men have in driving 
horses ; that is, to let their horses go right off, just as quick 
as they take hold of the reins, without giving them the word 
to go. In this way you teach your horse to disobey ; it 
learns your horse to have his own way. With liigh-lived 
horses it becomes a habit to start just as quick as they are 
hitched up ; and your horse Avill soon learn to think that he 
knows better when to go than you do. In fact, it is a 
question whether you or the horse is boss. Now, let us see ; 
you have let your horse go right off every time just as quick 
as he is hitched up, without giving him the word to go. 
Well, now, you have just hitched up your horse and get 
into the buggy; now your wife or some one else calls out to 
you to wait a few minutes and they will ride with you, and 
you pull upon the reins and say, '■ Whoa !" This makes your 
horse stick up liis head, and dance and prance all over the 
road. You will keep crying. "Whoa! whoa!" and the more 



TO DRIVK A HORSK. 13 

you cry " Whoa !" tlie faster your horse will go. Now, you 
can see that your horse has learned to disobey ; and when 
your wife gets into the buggy, you are angry with your 
horse because he would not stand, and you give tlie horse a 
shai-p cut of the whip and say, " Go now, if you want to go 
so bad." Now^, dear reader, you never strike a horse with a 
whip without learning him something, let it be good or bad. 
You whipped your horse because he would not stand, and 
after whipping him you let him go, pulling perhaps one or 
two hundred pounds on the bit, as fast as he can trot. 
Your horse will think that you whipped him to go, and the 
next time you hitch him up, he will be more anxious to go 
than he ever was before. Now, you have taught your 
horse the habit of pulling on the bit, and he is afraid to 
stand for you, and if you try to hold him he will rear up. 
Now, you have a dancing, prancing, disobedient horse ; a 
horse that has learned the habit to disobey. He is liable to 
run away, balk, kick, or anything else he takes into his 
head. Here is another bad fashion that most every man has 
that drives a horse ; that is, to be crying, " Whoa ! whoa !" 
It makes no difference whether the horse is going or stand- 
ing, they will cry, " Whoa !" I have seen men driving 
horses, and when their horses would shy or stick up their 
ears or commence to prance, they would say, "Whoa! 
whoa !" and let their horses go trotting along all the time, 
while they are crying, "Whoa!" Now, those men did not 
mean " Whoa !" They meant for their horses to go steady, 
or to be careful. Well then, why don't you say, " Whay, 
boy !" or " Be careful or steady," or " Take care ?" Use some 
of those words. Do not say " Whoa !" unless you mean just 
so. How often will you see men backing their teams out of 



14 THE WRONG WAY 

a shed or barn, and the driver is singing, '• Whoa! whoa !" 
and the teams are going backward full drive ? Yes ; and I 
have seen men stopping their horses, and they would pull a 
little on the reins, and keep saying, " Whoa ! whoa !" and 
let their horses go three or four rods before they Avould stop. 
Now, in this way, you can see you teach your horse to dis- 
obey. When your horse learns that he can go three or four 
rods after you say " Whoa !" some day he will get scared 
and run away three or four miles, and then he will care 
nothing about you nor your *' whoa." 



THE YOUNG MAN'S STYLE OF DRIVING THE 
HORSE. 

Young man's style of driving horses : First, he makes up 
his mind that he is going to see his girl or take her riding^ 
Now, he wants to have his "gal " and every one else 
think tbat he is capable of driving a high-lived horse, 
or think he is a great horseman ; and he wants his 
horse to get right up and dance and show off. Now, 
when he gets his horse hitched up, he gets into the buggy, 
and the first thing he does is to take the whip and give the 
horse five or six sharp cuts before he gives him the word to 
go. And after he whips him, he lets him go full sail, as 
fast as he can trot. Now, what have you taught your horse 
in this way ? Why, you have taught him to lose confidence in 
you ; he will never feel safe to stand for you again. There 
is no doubt, but when you brought your horse out to the 
*^»gg7 you said, "Whoa!" and your horse stood until you 
struck him with the whip. Now, your horse will think that 



TO DRIVE A HORSE. IS 

you whipped him because he obeyed the word "whoa!" He 
wi]l think that you whipped him for standing so long for you 
to hitch him up, and of course he will think that you whipped 
him to go. Now, the next time you hitch your horse up, he 
is afraid to stand long enough for you. He will be throwing 
his head up and down, and dancing and prancing to go when 
you are hitching him, and you will be crying, " Whoa ! 
whoa I" and you don't know what has got into your horse to 
make him act so. You have forgotten the da}^ that you 
whipped him to make him show off and dance and prance. 
Now, your neighbor will see how ugly your horse acts with 
you, and he will tell you to " whip it out of him." You 
will say that the horse is " naturally ugly ;" 3^ou say this to 
take the blame off yourself Well, the next time you hitch 
your horse up, you undertake to whip ^11 this dancing 
and prancing out of him, and make him stand at, the word 
'' whoa !" Now, I want you to understand that you whipped 
all of this dancing and prancing into your horse. Now you say 
you are going to " whip it out of him." Just think of this 
kind of horsemanship. I will say, when you did not know 
any better than to whip this dancing and prancing into your 
horse, you do not know enough to Avhip it out ; but any way 
you tried the experiment because your neighbor told you to. 
Now, you have just hitched your horse on to your buggy, and 
he is dancing and prancing, and you get into your buggy and 
pull upon the reins and say, "Whoa!" This makes your horse 
go faster, because he has lost confidence in you; then comes 
the slashing and cutting of the whip. Now, you have 
already lost control of your horse's mouth. When you 
were making him show off, you allowed him to pull one or 
two hundred pounds on the bit ; you thought that was the- 



16 



THE WRONG WAY 



style. Now your horse has a tough, ungovernable mouth. He 
will ran and jump and plunge, and verv' likely kick with you. 
This scares you, so that you are afraid of being killed, or 
afraid of getting your buggy smashed to pieces ; and if your 
horse does not get away from you, you rein him up to the 
fence and get him stopped in this way ; then you get out of 
your buggy and go up to your horse, and pat' and caress him, 
to quiet down the excitement, as you think you are doing ; 
but your horse will think that you are giving him praise, and 
telling him that he done right in jumping and plunging as he 
did. You are giving your horse courage to act so again, if 
you ever strike him with the whip. But I do not think you 
will ; you are afraid for fear he might run away with you. 
Now, your horse is boss, at least half of the time. Your 
horse is afraid tp stand for you ; you are afraid to try to 
hold him, unless you stand at his head, caressing and pat- 
ting him until the one that is going to ride with you gets 
into the bugg}' ; then you steal away from his head, and get 
into the buggy just as quick as you know how ; then you let 
your liorse go full sail, as fast as he can trot. Now, if your 
horse is tender bitted, or if you used a curb or any harsh bit, 
your experiment will work a little different with you. When 
you strike your horse with the whip, and pull upon the reins, 
your horse rears right up straight, and comes over backwards 
and breaks your buggy. Now, this scares you ; you are 
afraid to strike your horse again, for fear that he might 
kill himself, and it costs you five or ten dollars to get 
your buggy repaired ; but you think that this kind of work 
won't pay, so you will not strike your horse again. Now, 
you go through your process of patting and coaxing him, 
just the same as you did the other horse, and this is the way 



TO DRIVK A HORSK. 17 

you have of making your horse show off". Now, dear reader,, 
if you want to teach your horse to dance, take him out of the 
harness, because the horse that is all the time dancing in the 
harness is liable to balk. Dancing is the first step to 
balkiness, rearing up is the next ; and when you are driving 
him with a load on, or with another horse, he throws his head 
over the other horse, and then he has balked. 

Here is another fault that young men have in driving 
horses ; that is, when a horse is walking, and thq}^ want to 
start him on the trot, they strike their horse a sharp 
cut of the whip, and then they tell him to " go along." In 
this way, if your horse is high-lived, you teach him so that he 
will want to trot all the time ; and if you don't let him trot, 
then he will dance and fret and sweat, and he will never feel 
safe to walk for you. iHe don't know what minute you 
would up with your whip and strike him just as you did be- 
fore. Your horse has lost confidence in you, and you have 
taught him to pull on the bit perhaps three or seven 
hundred pounds. Then you get a curb-bit, and put it 
on your horse, to break tlie habit of pulling on the bit. 
This you will find is a failure. You have got to drive with 
the curb-bit as long as there is any life in your horse. 
With any harsh bit, you teach your horse so he don't know 
how to start ; and when you are starting him, you have got 
to push on the reins, or then you are liable to teach him to 
rear up or balk. So much for one wrong cut of the whip. I 
don't believe in whipping a horse unless he disobeys. Your 
horse did not disobey, because you did not tell him to go 
until after you whipped him. 



18 THK WRONG WAY 

THE OLD GENTLEMAN'S STYLE OE DRIVING 
THE HORSE. 

The old gentleman's style of driving horses : First, they 
have taught their horse so they have to give him the word 
to go five or six times before they get him started ; then they 
keep drawing their reins back and forth, just the same as it 
they were sawing with a cross-cut saw ; and they are click- 
ing and squeaking ; and if they have a w^hip, they will 
be striking their horse a light blow on the back. This they 
call "tipping him up a little." Now, just as quick as the 
•driver stops his clicking and sawing on the reins, just so 
quick will his horse stop trotting. This way of driving looks 
too much to me like working your passage. It looks like a 
man riding on a hand-car ; just as %uick as he stops turning 
the crank, just as quick his car will stop running. It looks 
somewhat like a man rowing a boat — when he stops rowing, it 
is apt to go as the wind blows. It will, in all cases, blow to 
the shore and stop. Just so it is Vith the old gentleman's 
horse. When he stops clicking and sawing and " tipping him 
up," his horse is apt to go up to the first hitching-post and stop. 

Now, it appears to me that some men cannot see when 
their horse disobeys, until he balks and kicks or runs away. 
Now, when you give your horse the word to go, and he does 
not go, he disobeys ; then if you give him the word to go 
four or five more times before you get him started, you are 
teaching him to disobey. It becomes a habit - your' horse 
will think that he cannot go unless you tell him five 
or six times. You have the habit of starting him in this 
way, so, you can see, you and the horse both have learned a 
habit. Now, suppose you would hitch your horse up with a 



TU DKIVK A HOKSHJ. 19 

colt, or H well-broken horse ; when you would tell them to go, 
the well-broken horse would start at the first word, and of 
course he would not be able to draw the whole load and 
your horse too ; so then he would fly back. You would 
shout, " Get up there !" This would scare the high-lived 
horse ; he would jump with all vengeance to draw the load 
and your horse too ; and he would be jerked back again with 
the weight of the load and your horse, because your horse 
did not make a move yet. He is waiting until you give him 
the word to go five or six times, before he will start ; and 
when you get your slow horse started, the high-lived one has 
been jerked back five or six times, and now he is dancing 
and prancing and " tipping up a little " on the forward end. 
His forepart appears to be as light as a- feather, and he don't 
offer to draw a pound. He is mad. He ' never had the 
courage jerked out of him before. He don't know what you 
mean. He was always driven with a tight rein You push 
back and forth w^ith your reins. Now, you will begin 
to think that there is something wrong, when you see the 
high-lived horse is not drawing a pound ; then you will whip 
the high-lived horse and shout, "Get up there !" Then your 
high-lived horse will rear up, and throw his head over the 
other horse. Then you will shout, " Whoa! whoa !" Now, 
your high-lived horse is balked. You will go and take his 
head off of the other horse ; then you will take your reins and 
push on them, and whip and halloo, "Get up there !" Then 
your horse throws his head over on the other horse's neck as 
before. You may whip or unhitch, I don't care which you 
do ; you and your old disobedient horse have balked a well- 
broken one. Now, when the old gentleman is driving his 
horse on a walk, and he gives him the word to go, and if his 



20 THE WKONG WAY 

horse don't start a little faster or ti"ot. he disobeys. Then if 
the old gentleman commences to saw back and forth on his 
reins, and click and "tip him up a little," he is teaching him 
to disobey ; he teaches his horse to think that he can't trot 
unless his driver is clicking, sawing and squeaking, and 
'• tipping him up a little." You and the old gentleman may 
think that he has got to drive his horse in this way because 
he is lazy ; but no, it is no such thing. It is because the 
old gentleman has the habit of driving him this w^ay, and he 
has taught his horse the habit of going in this way. Now, if 
you can make your horse trot by clicking, sawing and " tip- 
ing him up a little," your horse can trot just as well by 
giving him one Avord to go, if you but teach him so. Now, 
as I have stated before in this little, book, you never 
strike a horse with a whip unless you teach him something, 
let it be good or bad. Now, I will just tell you what the 
old gentleman teaches his horse when he strikes him a light 
blow on the back, or " tips him up a little," as he calls it. 
To keep striking your horse in this way, you take away that 
fear from your horse which he ought to have in order to 
make him obey you. When he disobeys he has no fear of 
you nor your whip. You never struck him hard enough to 
hurt a fly. Your horse thinks you cannot hurt him with your 
whip ; and if your horse is low-lived he will become lazy ; 
then you will be hallooing, " Get up there !" and clicking, 
sawing, squeaking and " tipping him up a little," doing all 
this in order to get him to go. Your horse never knows 
whether he is doing right or wrong, because you are all the 
time hallooing at hi^. It appears to me that some men 
don't know^ what their whip was made for ; they use it in 
driving their horses just the same as if they were driving a 



TO DRIVE A HORSE. 21 

drove of hogs or sheep. Your whip was never made to 
drive your horse. It was made to punish him when he dis- 
obeys. Now, if your horse is high-lived, and you " tip him up 
a little " in this way, you are liable to teach him to kick ; it 
will become a habit, and he w^ill kick every time you strike 
liim with the whip ; then you will have " tipping up " in 
earnest. I will give you one more case of this kind, out of 
hundreds of cases too numerous to mention. A teamster 
was driving his team on the road, on a walk, and the man 
that sat in the seat with the driver struck the off horse a 
light blow on the top of the left hind-quarter ; then the horse 
jumped and tried to run away, but the driver managed to 
hold him, so he did not get away ; then the horse, dancing 
and prancing sideways, with his hind-quarters against the 
outside trace, was trying to get his hind-quarters as far away 
from the whip as he could. The horse went two miles in 
this way ; then the driver reined them up to a hitching-post, 
tied them and let them stand about two hours. A gentle- 
man asked the driver why he did not "whip that dancing 
out of his horse?" So when he commenced to start his 
team, this horse commenced dancing just as he did before. 
The driver thought he would "whip it out of him," so he 
struck the horse three or four light blows, just where the 
other man did. This made the matter w^orse. Every time 
he struck the horse, the faster he let him go. He reined out 
and passed three or four teams, and his horse went dancing, 
prancing all the way home. Now, I will tell you what this 
man was teaching his horse in striking him those few blows. 
In striking him where he did, he taught his horse to crowd 
more against the outside trace ; he taught him to pull on the 

bit, and his horse learned that the harder he pulled on the 
3 



22 THE WRONG WAY 

bit the faster he could go. In this way your horse would 
learn to pull so hard on the bit that two men could not hold 
him ; if they would hold him, he would rear up. Your horse 
would think that you whipped him to go. Surely he could 
not think anything else, when he ran past three or four 
teams, after whipping him. All of this becomes a habit with 
your horse. Every time you drive him on the road he 
will dance, fret and sweat, and pull on the bit. I have 
seen them pull on the bit in this w^ay until they would pull 
themselves blind ; yes, and their mouth was cut and wore up 
an inch or two longer than it ought to be. This is the way 
to teach your horse to disobey. Then he is liable to get 
lazy, balk, kick, run away, or anything else he takes into his 
head. 



EATERY MAN'S NOTION IN DRIVING A HORSE. 

Every man ^.that drives a horse thinks that his way is 
right. Now, dear reader, throw away a little of that self- 
conceit and prejudice, and I will endeavor to show you that 
there are only a few" men who know how to drive a horse 
right, and keep him from learning any bad habit. One man 
manages to keep control of his team to a certain extent, by 
making them walk all the time. When he is driving them, 
and when he is plowing with the team, he would go so slow 
that you would have to stand and look at his team ten 
minutes before you could tell whether they were going 
or standing ; and when he drives them on the road, he never 
drives them faster than on a walk. He is sitting in the seat, 
braced, pullmg on the reins- about two or three hundred 
pounds, I should think, and when his team got startled a little 



TO DRIVE A HORSE. 23 

or commenced to prance, he would halloo, " Whoa ! whoa!" 
and let them dance all the time he is singing whoa. Now, 
if you want to have a good plow team, let them learn to 
walk right oif. Never make an ox of a horse. And if you 
have a team that you are afraid to let trot, for fear they 
would cut up and kick or run away, they are not half broken. 
Now, suppose there was a man who wanted to buy your 
team, he would want to see them trot ; but if it was the 
first time that you ever let them trot, they would get scared 
at themselves and try to run away, and it would take you 
one hour to get them cooled down. Then the man would 
not want your team ; he would think they were not half 
broken, or they were regular runaways. When I saw this 
man pulling on his reins, he looked to me as if he was full 
of fear and misery. I thought he would rather go on foot 
than ride after his team. I have seen him go three or four 
miles on foot, and his team dancing in the stable for the 
want of exercise. Now, the man that lets his team learn the 
habit of pulling fifty or two hundred pounds on the bit, is 
liable to lose all control of the mouth, and your horse will 
learn to know that he is stronger than you are, and he can 
pull more on the reins than you can ; and when he knows 
this, he is liable to learn any habit, and you are liable to lose 
all control of your horse. When you hallooed "Wheal" to 
your team, and did not stop them, you were teaching them to 
disobey. 

Here I will give you another man's style of driving his 
team. He has them taught so, that when he is plowing with 
them he has to give them the word to go four or five times 
before he gets them started ; then he will keep clicking and 
talking to his team all the time in order to keep them 



24 THE WRONG WAY 

going; and when he wants to stop them he will halloo, 
'' Whoa !" three or four times before he gets them stopped. 
In talking so much in the open air you expose your lungs 
to the cold, and you are liable to get cold and hoarse, and 
perhaps die with the consumption ; anyhow, with so much 
talk, you become a nuisance to your team ; they don't pay 
much attention to your clicking and talking ; you might a& 
well be singing or whistling. I have seen the same man trying 
to draw a heavy load with his team, and while he would be- 
pushing on the reins, clicking and striking them a slight blow 
of the whip, his team would jerk back and forth, first one and 
then the other. When they work this way a few moments 
he will say, " Whoa ! whoa !" His team stops. They don't 
appear to be excited much. His team is used to such driv- 
ing. Then he will try to take another start, and he pushes 
on the reins again, clicks and whips very lightly for his team- 
to go. They go something like a shingle machine, back and 
forth. Some men would call this team balky ; but no, it is 
no such thing. A horse is never balky until he gets mad at 
the driver and refuses to go when he is whipped. This team 
are willing to go, but they don't know how to start together,, 
and the driver don't know how to teach them to draw to- 
gether. This man has a very good team, but they have 
been very badly managed. The man that starts his team 
with a slack rein, or pushes on the reins, if his team ever 
starts together with a load, it is all luck and chance. The 
team that you start in this way, one of them is sure to get 
the start of the other ; they are liable to calk themselves, 
and you are liable to never get them started with a load. 

Here is another man's notion of driving horses. He 
thinks that he must let the horse have partly his own way ; 



TO DEIVE A HORSE. 25 

and he considers himself quite a horseman. Now, I will ex- 
plain to you how he drives a low-lived and a high-lived horse 
together, and what it amounts to to let your high-lived horse 
have his own way. When he picks up the reins to start, if 
they start without giving them the word to go, he lets them 
start off on a slow trot, or what you might call a double- 
quick step, and the high-lived horse is a foot or two ahead of 
his mate. The driver, some of the time, is pushing on the 
reins, and sometimes pulling a little, but not enough to hold 
his high-lived horse back even with his mate ; then he strikes 
his low-lived horse a little with the whip every minute or two ; 
but it makes no difference how fast he makes his slow horse 
go, his high-lived horse will keep just so far ahead of his 
mate. And when he is starting to go up a hill, or any 
place where they would have to pull a little harder than they 
would on a level road, he will whistle, sing and click for his 
horses to go, and away they go up the hill on the double- 
quick step. This way of driving becomes a habit. In let- 
ting your high-lived horse practice to start always on the 
double-quick step, or go up the hill just the same way, your 
horse will learn to think that he could not start with anything 
hitched to him unless he starts full drive, just like a ram 
when he starts to meet his enemy in the field of battle. 
And if the driver would pull a steady rein, hard enough to 
bold his high-lived horse back even with his mate, or to make 
him start on the walk, his high-lived horse will dance, shake his 
head and balk. The driver knows this, and that is the reason he 
thinks^he knows more about a horse than an}^ one else, so he 
lets them start on a jump, and up the hill on a double-quick 
step. This is the way he has his team taught to go, and 
both him and his team think they are doing just right. The 



26 THE WRONG WAY 

man who drives a team in this way can never draw a very big 
load, because the high-lived horse has always got to start the 
load. I have seen this man trying to start a heavy load, and 
the first jump his high-lived horse made to go, he was jerked 
back, and this jerk hurt the horse so much he becomes mad 
and refuses to take another start ; then the driver takes them 
off and puts on another team to start the load, and when he 
gets it started he hitches his team on again, and away they 
go on a double-quick step. I have seen teams when they 
would go over a rough road in this way, that the w^agon- 
tongue would give them such a jolt that the high-lived horse 
would be knocked down flat, and his mate would fall on the 
top of him. I saw this man driving his team one day, when 
he found it was necessary to draw up on his reins ; he was 
driving them, and they were going full drive against a gate- 
post. The driver pulls up quick on his reins to check their 
speed, and reins them, first to the right and then to the left; 
then his high-lived horse flies back and stands there mad, 
and the driver commences to whip his high-lived horse, and 
his horse kicks every time he strikes him. Now he has a 
balky and kicking horse, and his horse will keep these habits 
for life if he don't get some horseman to break them up. 
Thus you can see, in letting your horse have partly his own 
way, you teach your horse to think he knows more than you 
do. In letting your high-lived horse go a foot ahead of his 
mate, he learns to think that is his place, and he thinks his 
driver has no right to pull on the reins to hold him back or 
to make him go slow. In letting your horse have partly his 
own way, he soon learns to want all his own way ; and if 
his load don't start, the first step he takes he is mad ; he 
stands ready for a flare-up, and he thinks you have no right 



TO DKIVE A HORSE. J7 

to whip him ; and that is the reason that he kicks at you. 
when you strike him with the whip. Either you or the horse 
have got to be boss ; so let your horse have partly his own w^ay 
and he is liable to kick you out of society. Now, when 3^ou 
allow your slow horse to always go a foot behind his mate, 
he learns to think that is liis place, and he always waits for 
his mate to start first, and when you give them tlie word to 
go, your sloAv horse pays no attention to you until the high- 
lived one starts first, because he has no fear of you when he 
disobeys ; you took all the fear out of him in striking him so 
many light blows of the whip. If you ever get your slow- 
horse started even with his mate, he will not stay there 
half a minute ; he will fiv back to where he w^as taught to go. 
a foot or two behind his mate, and your high-lived horse will 
jump and tr}^ to get ahead to where he was allowed to go. 
So much for letting 3'our horse have partly his own w^ay. 
Yes ; and here is more of this man's driving. He attempts 
to driv»j a young high -lived horse single, when he has been 
*dle for a fevx- weeks and well fed, and when he hitches him 
up he is all go-ahead. When the driver gets into the buggy 
the horse starts right off, and the driver is pulling a little on 
the reins, singing, "Whoa! whoa!" and allows his horse to 
continue going as he says, '"Whoa !" He lets his horse trot, 
fret and sweat until there is nothing left of him but skin 
and bone ; then he drives his horse by pushing on the reins, 
clicking, hooting and touching him a little Avith the whip : 
and his horse will sometimes take a start, and mn on one 
side of the road, and probably ten or fifteen rods, before the 
driver has time to pull the slack out of his reins ; and just as 
quick as the horse takes tlie start, the driver will say. 
*' Whoa ! whoa !" and there is no whoa. He manages, to 



28 THE WRONG WAY 

keep him from running away, but that is no whoa unless you 
stop him at the word of command. When he goes down 
hill, his horse drives all on one rein, with his head on one 
side and his hind-quarters on the other. He goes side- 
Avays. This is caused by the driver pushing on one rein and 
pulling on the other, and letting the horse have partly his 
own way ; and when he is coming home, and stops to talk 
to his neighbor, his horse will be anxious to get home. 
He will not be more than stopped when his horse starts 
to go ; then the driver will have to keep saying, '' Whoa!" 
His horse Avill be dancing and prancing to go, and in a few 
minutes he will show signs of rearing up. This scares the 
driver, and he says, " I must go, my horse won't stand," and 
he lets him go full sail. In this way you teach your horse, 
that whenever he wants to go, if you don't let him, he will 
rear up ; then if you don't let him go, he will flare-up and' 
balk. The cause of this is by letting him have partly his 
own way. You always let him go as soon as you take up 
the reins, without giving him the word to go ; and letting 
him have this privilege, he learns that he can start any time 
you will throAv down your reins. He will never be safe 
to leave a minute unless you hitch him to a post. Every 
time you say, "Whoa!" to your horse, and don't stop him, 
you are teaching him to disobey ; you teach him to have his 
own way ; you teach him, whenever anything happens, 
to be sure to run away. That word whoa never ought 
to be trifled with. How often is it the case that the 
driver is upset and has no power of the reins whatever? 
The driver will halloo, " Whoa !" but it is all in vain ; his 
horse runs away and draws the wagon over him, and kills 
him. This is enough to condemn the idea of letting your 



TO DRIVE A HORSE. 29 

horse have partly his own way. Every horse that ever 
balked, was caused by letting him practice the habit of 
having partly his own way, for six months or perhaps six 
years, before he balked. The man that lets his horse have 
partly his own way may drive him fifteen or twenty years, and 
he will not have his horse half broken. This is the cause of 
all accidents by horses running away, and learning so many 
habits in the harness. They are driving horses that never 
were broken, nor never will be as long as they drive them, 
because they don't know how. They never get control of 
their horse, and the longer they drive him the more awkward 
he gets, the more habits he will learn, by letting him have 
partly his own way. 



THE WAY SOME MEN HANDLE THEIR HORSES 
WHEN THEY GET SCARED. 

The first is a man with a team of colts. His team was 
afraid to go across a bridge, and just as quick as the driver 
saw the team getting scared, he threw his whip in the bottom 
of the wagon ; he crouches with fear and pulls on the reins, 
and says, " Whoa!" His team stops, then he pushes on the 
reins and gives them the word to go. Now, here was 
danger. The minute he pushed on the reins, his team was 
liable to jump either to the right or to the left ; they were at 
liberty to turn around and run home ; but as luck happened, 
he got them pushed over the bridge. In this way you teach 
your horse to believe there is danger where there is none ; 
you let your horse learn that habit of whirling around short, 
and tipping you over, and away he will go, and you can 



30 THE WRONG WAY 



never drive your horse single without putting yourself in 
danger. 

Here is another man with a horse, and when liis horse 
got scared, he stopped and got out of the buggy, went 
up to him, patted and caressed him, and led him 
across the bridge. In this way he teaches him a habit. 
Every time he gets scared you will have to lead him past 
the object. Your horse will lose confidence in himself; 
he will never feel safe to go unless you go ahead of 
him. The first time your horse refused to go across the 
bridge, when you patted and caressed him, you were teach- 
ing him to disobey. You taught him to think he did 
right in refusing to go ; you gave your horse courage 
to stand up so every time he got frightened ; you taught 
him when he got scared that you had a right to pat, 
caress and lead him across the bridge. 

Now, here is another one. This man thinks he is quite a 
horseman. Just as quick as he sees his horse sticking up 
his ears and shying a little, he will commence whipping, and 
every time he strikes his horse he lets him go faster ; and 
after he gets past the object, he lets him go full sail, pulling 
on the bit, and the harder his horse pulls on the bit, the 
faster he lets him go. Now, if you would ask this young 
man what he whipped his horse for, he would say, " For 
getting scared," and he was " going to whip it out of him." 
Oh, how foolish ! You might as well try to whip the 
nervousness out of a man. As I have said before, I don't 
believe in Avhipping a horse unless he disobeys or does 
something wrong. Your horse did not do much more than 
stick up his ears ; that was nothing to whip l\im for. 
I like to see a horse have his ears up straight. Now, I will 



i 



TO DRIVE A HORSE. 31 

tell you what you taught your horse in whipping him in this 
way ; you taught him to pull on the bit, and every time he 
got scared he would think of your whip, and then he 
w^ould start and run and pull on the bit. Every time you 
whipped him, he Avould think you wanted him to run ; 
and after a few lessons of this kind you would require all 
your efforts to hold him without whipping at all. You have 
taught your horse three habits ; that is, jumping, running 
and pulling on the bit. Such a horse as this is liable to run 
away any time, unless you have his habits broken up. 

Here, then, is another. This horse gets scared at an um- 
brella in the wagon, and commences to prance a little, and 
the driver halloos, "Whoa!" loud enough to shake the 
earth. He lets him trot right along, then he gives another 
loud " Whoa !" and he commences to whip him; after whip- 
ping he lets him go full sail on the trot, pulling on the bit two 
or three hundred pounds. This horse has learned just the 
same habits as the previous one; that is, jumping, running and 
pulling on the bit. You may think that these horses act so 
because they are high-lived ; but no. That is no excuse for 
you to let them learn these habits. When those men com- 
menced driving these horses, they had the idea that the}^ 
could hold any horse with a steady pull on the reins ; but 
the horse taught them that he was the strongest. Then they 
will get a curb-bit, or some other harsh bit, which is liable 
to teach them to balk. 



WHAT YOU WILL HEAR SOME MEN SAY. 
I have heard some men say there " were some breeds of 



32 THE WRONG WAY 

horses that were naturally ugly and of a balky disposition;'' 
but no. There are no such breeds of horses. Men say this 
when they get one they cannot handle. They say this to 
take the blame off themselves. There are only two kinds — 
the high-lived and the low-lived horse. The high-lived 
is the one that men usually have the most trouble with. He 
fears man too much, and when he does anything wrong, it 
is through fear, or he don't know how. Then the majority 
of men have a way of teaching him ; that is, in whipping 
him. In this wa)' your horse would never know what 
he was whipped for, because you never knew how to teacli 
him what was right or what was wrong ; so, when your horse 
did not know what was right or what was wrong, it was im- 
possible for him to know what he was whipped for ; and when 
you were whipping you did not know how to handle the 
reins ; you did not know when to say whoa or when to say 
go. In ona word, you did not know how to handle your 
horse when you whipped him. And when you are driving 
the high-lived and the low-lived horse together, nine times 
out of ten you whip the wrong horse. You drive them for 
months or for years together with a light load on, and your 
high-lived horse will obey the word go every time. He 
starts the load and the low-lived horse too, and you keep 
clicking to your low-lived horse to make him keep up, and 
your clicking has no effect on your low-lived horse whatever ; 
then you will slap him with the rein, and strike him a light 
blow of the whip, just hard enough to let him know that you 
won't hurt him ; and when he knows this, your whip takes no 
effect on him whatever. Every word of this clicking takes 
effect on your high-lived^horse, for it confuses him. He will 
dance and run ahead, and you will pull two or three 



TO DRIVE A HORSE. 33^ 

hundred pounds on the reins to hold him back, and the low- ^ 
lived horse is holding back too, so your high-lived horse has 
got to draw the load, the slow horse and you too. That is 
three pulling against one. Your high-lived horse puts up 
with all of this until you put on a load that he is unable to 
draw ; then he gets jerked back three or four times, when he 
stands up mad and refuses to draw a pound. Now, if your 
high-lived horse could talk, he would tell you that you im- 
posed on him to ask him to start the load always alone, and 
when he would start it, you were always clicking for him to 
go faster. You and your slow horse seem to think that the 
high-lived one has a right to go ahead and do all the work. 
Your high-lived horse says, by his actions, that he cannot 
start the load, and he will not try again, if you don't "give 
your sloAv horse a good whipping, and make him keep up with 
him, when you give them the word to go. But I can not 
see it in this light. You are in such love with the slow 
horse that you fail to see his faults. You have always had 
it in your head that your high-lived horse was naturally ugl}'-. 
When he threw up his head or switched his tail, you 
thought it was because he was ugly ; but this is not so. 
It was caused by your telling him to go, and you and your 
slow horse would not let him go. In this way you confused 
him, so he did not know what he was doing. When your 
slow horse disobeyed you had all sorts of patience, and 
would tell him to go six or seven times before you got him 
started once ; but when your high-lived horse refused to go, 
because he was not able to draw the load, you had no 
patience ; you became excited, and commenced whipping and 
hallooing for him to go ; and before you got through whip- 
ping, you had taught your liorse that he would always have 



34 



THE WRONG WAY 



the habit of balking, kicking and rearing up; and when you 
have taught him one of these habits he has conquered you, 
and he is ugly. Now, some men will stop here and see 
that their whipping is all in vain, and never whip their horse 
again. There are some men who do not want to give 
their horse the name of being ugly, and they will say that he 
is so high-lived that you can't strike him with the whip. 
They will tell you that ''he don't want any whip." With a 
low-lived horse it is just the reverse. He don't fear man 
enough to make him obey. He sometimes acts stubborn 
and sulky. When you strike him with the whip he will 
switch his tail, as much as to say, "I don't care for you nor 
your whip," and he would not move much faster. This 
horse will learn habits; but men can't see his faults as quick 
as they can the high-lived horse's, because they are not so 
dangerous. This is the kind of horse that learns to stay about 
two feet behind his mate when you are driving him, and so 
thoroughly he learns it that you will have to tell him three or 
four times before he will start. With stubborness he learns the 
habit of holding his head down, and pulling against the bit ; 
and when you try to turn him to the right or left, he will turn 
his head around to his side. He learns the habit of stopping 
without giving him the word whoa. When you meet a team, 
he would rather stand and hear you talk than to continue on 
his walk. 

You will hear men say that the stable is the place to whip 
a horse. They will tell you to do all your whipping in the 
stable. Whip until you get your horse afraid of you, and 
then you are all right. The man that says this is a coward, 
and he knows but very little about breaking a horse if 
he whips a high-lived colt in this way. You would soon 



TO DRIVE A HORSK. 35 

teach him to run away, and just as quick as you got 
him hitched up, he would jump and try to make off. He 
would also learn to pull on the bit, and be liable to do every- 
thing wrong through fear. He fears you too much, and 
after your way of whipping him, it would make the matter 
worse ; and when he does anything wrong in the harness 
or disobeys, you are afraid to strike him with the whip, be- 
cause if you do, he will jump and pull on the bit, and 
perhaps run away with you. So when your horse did any- 
thing wrong in the harness, you would have to Avait until 
you got him into the stable before whipping him. In this 
wiiy your horse would never know what he was whipped 
for. In whipping a horse in this way reminds me of some 
men whom I have seen driving horses. When their horse 
did anything wrong, they would wait until they were go- 
ing up a hill, then they would whip their horse for something 
that he had done wrong two or three hours before they 
whipped him. Away with such whipping as this ! No one 
will whip in this way but a coward ; and you may be sure • 
that he don't know how to handle the reins. With the low- 
lived horse, to do all your whipping in the stable, it would 
act quite different with him, because he forgets a whipping 
very quick. You would teach him to fear you while in the 
stable, but if you never whipped him out of the stable he 
would soon learn to not fear you when out of the stable ; 
then he is liable to learn any of the habits that a low-lived 
horse would. If you lifted your wiiip to strike him 
out of doors, he would remember the severe thrashing 
that you gave him in the stable ; and if you struck him 
with the whip, he would jump, plunge and pull on the bit ; 
then you would stop whipping, because you would see that 



36 THE WRONG WAY 

your horse could jerk and pull you around just where he 
pleased. And just as quick as your horse knew that you 
were not going to strike him. he w^ould be as slow as ever. 
In the stable you conquer your horse and you are master, 
and out of doors your horse conquers you, and is boss. 
That is what your w^hipping amounts to. 

You will hear some men bragging how good their team is 
to go, and how free they will pull on the bit ; that they have 
all they want to do to hold them. I have heard one man 
say that when his team " was drawing a load, he had to pull 
on the reins so hard that he pulled the heels from off his 
boots." The man that lets his team pull on the bit in this 
w^ay knows but very little about the comfort of driving a well- 
broken team, and has the best part of horsemanship to learn 
yet. The team that knows how to pull on the bit in this 
way, should they get scared, they would run away and you 
could not avoid it, and if they should ever kick, you could not 
hold them to whip them for it. The man that tries to hold 
•such a team as this with a steady pull on the reins, is foolish 
to try to compare his strength with a horse. When a horse 
learns that he can pull more on the reins than his driver, he 
will soon learn to pull fifteen or twenty hundred pounds on 
the bit. Where is the man that wants to pull on the reins 
in this way ? What pleasure can you take riding and pull- 
ing on the reins in this way ? I w^ould prefer to go on foot 
rather than drive such a team. Don't be so foolish as to 
think that you have the smartest team, just because they 
pull on the bit, for that is nothing but a habit. A team 
could draw just as much, and more too, if you had them 
taught not to hold on the bit more than five or six pounds ; 
they could go just as fast, if not faster. Now, if you pull two 



TO DRIVE A HORSE. 37 

hundred pounds on the reins, your team could pull four 
hundred more on the load, if you did not pull on the reins so 
hard. And suppose your team have just strength enough to' 
draw thirty hundred pounds, if they have to lay out two or 
three hundred pounds of this strength to draw you, surely 
they could not draw so much on the load. I have heard 
some men say that " they did not care how hard a horse pulled 
on the bit; the harder he pulls the better I like it," they 
would say. " They never saw that horse they could not 
hold." The man that talks in this way don't know what he is 
talking about. I have gone into some of these men's stables, 
and I have seen them lined with curb, chain and all kinds of 
harsh bits. Why do you use such bits as these if ** you 
don't care how hard your horse pulls on the bit ?" I tell you, 
dear reader, there never was a man that could hold a horse 
with a steady pull on the reins, when your horse had learned 
the habit of pulling on the bit, unless you can find a man 
stronger than a horse, and that man never was found yet. 
A great mistake made by those men who train horses to 
trot is made in teaching them at first to pull on the bit, 
and the harder the driver pulls on the reins, the faster 
th^ horse will trot. This is altogether wrong. When 
your horse is trained in this manner, you have got to pull 
two or three hundred pounds on the reins or your horse will 
start on the gallop. With some horses, as soon as you ease 
up on pulling so hard, they hold up on trotting so fast. 
When you drive on the trotting course, you might just as 
well take the traces off the harness, because the horse draws 
you and the sulky by pulling on the bit. Now, when you 
take the traces off the harness, everj^ one can see and will 
say, " That is a hard wav for a horse to trot." In this way, 
4 



38 THE WRONG WAY 

with some horses, you curb the head and neck so much that 
you bother the horse to breathe. It chokes the horse, and 
his wind will give out before he trots half a mile ; therefore 
you lose the heat by making your horse pull so hard on the 
bit. When he pulls so hard it is impossible to rein him to 
the right or to the left, and when you give your horse the 
liberty to pull on the bit, he don't know when to stop. He 
is liable to pull two or three hundred, or perhaps fifteen 
hundred pounds, and you can't punish him for pulling so 
hard, because you taught him the habit ; and if you should 
punish him for it, he would not know what you meant, so 
your punishment would all be in vain. When you put forth 
all your strength in holding such a tight rein, should your 
horse happen to overreach or stumble, he will be likely to 
fall, because you have not remaining strength to help to hold 
him up. When you learn your horse that dangerous habit 
of pulling on the bit, you lose all control of the mouth, and 
you teach him to run away, and he very often kills his driver. 
Then some one else takes him in hand, and puts a curb or 
some other harsh bit in his mouth, and drives him but a few 
times until they teach him to rear up, balk or kick. This is 
what pulling on the bit amounts to. Your horse has no right 
to pull on the bit, and you have no reason to allow him to 
do so. The man that cannot teach his horse to draw^ his 
load without learning him to pull on the bit, does not 
know how to drive ; he who cannot teach his horse to trot 
his full speed without teaching him to pull on the bit, 
don't know how to drive ; and the driver who cannot teach 
his team to draw without pushing on the reins, and in turn- 
ing them to the right or to the left, will push on one rein and 
pull on the other, don't know how to drive. The slack 



TO DRIVK A HORSK. 39 

rein driver teaches his team to think that he has no right to 
pull four or seven pounds on the reins when he gives 
them the word to go. A team that has always been driven 
with a slack rein, if you should hold a tight rein and tell 
them to go, they don't know what you mean, and perhaps 
they will not go at all until you strike them with the 
whip ; then they will jump and pull as much with the reins 
as they would with the traces, and you will find that you might 
as well try to hold them by taking hold of their tails as 
to hold them with the reins. In driving your young 
team with slack reins, you give them eveiy chance to get 
the advantage of you ; you teach them to think they have 
their liberty, just the same as if they were in the pasture. 
You give them an opportunity to run away ; you give them 
so much liberty with their heads, that they take the advan- 
tage and kick up. When you struck them a sharp cut of the 
whip, you taught them to know that they could pull more on 
the reins than you could, and when they know this they are 
apt to run away any time they take the notion. When you 
try to draw a heavy load, you always start them by pushing 
on the reins, always pushing one ahead of the other. To 
drive a slack rein driving horse singly, you are never safe, 
for he is apt* to upset you any minute, and if he stumbles he 
will be sure to fall. When you think he is going a little too 
fast you pull up on the reins, then he learns the habit to 
curb his head down to his breast and piill on the bit. He 
does this because he was always driven with a slack rein. 
The slack rein driver never gets control of his horse, and he 
is afraid to give him any oats unless he drives him eveiy 
day, so he can never fit his team for sale, because they 
would be likely to play-up and run away from him. Any man 



40 THE WKONG WAY 

whom you see driving a horse with curb-chain, leather or 
any harsh bit, I care not who he may be, does not know how 
to drive. 

You w^ill hear men say that '*any one can break a colt.'' 
if he only takes him kindly and does not whip him. They will 
say they broke such a colt, and drove him for six months and 
never struck him with the whip. The man that says this is 
sure to be a slack rein driver, and when he drives a low- 
lived horse, he is busy shaking the reins and all the time 
clicking. In driving a low-lived horse in this way, he is 
liable to learn any habit that a low-lived horse will learn ; 
but this driver thinks he knows it all, as long as his horse 
does not learn the habit of balking or kicking. He cannot 
see any other fault. He thinks his horse is well broken. If 
his horse should get scared and run awa/ once or twice a 
year, he thinks that is nothing more than any horse will do. 
In driving horses in this way you never establish the fear of 
disobedience, and without that, I say it is impossible to drive 
a horse right, for when he disobeys he has nothing to fear. 
When you commence to drive a high-lived colt he fears you, 
and will cringe and tremble when 3^ou go up to him ; but this 
is not the right kind of fear. There are two kinds of fear 
for a horse to have of a man. I will try and explain this 
to you. In recalling to memory the time you were a boy, 
you remember the fear of punishment which haunted 
you if you disobeyed your parents. This is one kind 
of fear, and it is the kind of fear I establish in every 
horse I drive when he disobeys. He fears me, and is 
Bure to get punished ; but when he obeys he has no fear, 
and is sure to get treated kindly. Here is a crazy man with 
a gun ; he comes to you in the field when you are alone, and 



TO DRIVE A HORSK. ^ 41 

if this man lays hands on you, you will tremble with 
fear, for you are afraid you will lose your life. This is the 
other kind of fear. This is the kind of fear your high-lived 
colt has of you. You take this fear out of your horse by 
patting, caressing and treating him kindly. This you will 
accomplish in a few^ days. But when you are driving him, 
he is afraid of everything else he sees. When he comes 
to a bridge he stands and refuses to go across it, and you 
may give him the word to go, but he will show every sign of 
whirling around to go back. Now he has disobeyed you, 
because he is afraid of the bridge and has no fear of you. 
Mr. Rarey says, " Whenever a horse scares at an object on 
going along the road, always lead him slowly towards it, and 
let him touch it with his nose." In this way you encourage 
him to disobey you. Every time he refuses to go you give him 
kind treatment, and start him by leading. By doing so you 
teach your horse a habit that he will never forget, and you 
will have to lead him when he is fifteen or tw^enty years old. 
The idea of leading a horse up to everything that he gets 
scared at! With some horses it would be a tedious job. 
When your horse gets scared at a hog, the hog will not stand 
for you to lead your horse up to him to let your horse 
examine him with his nose. You drive along a little farther, 
and he gets scared at a white dog, the next is a black one, 
and the next red. These dogs wnll not stand for you and 
your horse to examine, and if they would, you and your 
horse are liable to get bitten. This is enough to condemn the 
idea of leading your horse when he disobeys or refuses to go. 
The man that drives his horse in this way never gets control 
of him. When you are driving a horse that you have not 
control of, you are never safe, and are liable to be upset at 



42 THK WRONG WAY 

any time. When a horse has not the fear of disobedience 
of his driver, the driver is afraid of his horse, and this is the 
reason that he has for leading him past the objects he gets 
scared at. Ask this man if he is afraid of his horse, and he 
will say, " No ; he never saw the horse he was afraid of.'' 
When a man drives a horse that has been broken in this way, 
he has a perfect right to be afraid of him, until he can break 
up his habits and establish the fear of disobedience in his 
horse, and when he accomplishes this the driver has no right 
to be afraid. 



THE WRONG WAY TO WHIP THE BALKINESS 
OUT OF A HORSE. 

You have heard men sav that they ''have whipped the 
balkiness out of some horses." I want you to understand 
that a horse never learns to balk, so that it becomes a habit, 
until it is thoroughly whipped into him. Now, I will show 
how they whip it out in every case that I have seen or heard 
of, with the exception of one case. Here now, this man has 
just hitched his team to the wagon, and one of them is 
balky, and he says his horse "has got to go or die." This is 
a hard sentence, but his horse don't understand a word of it. 
He gives his team the word to go, and the balky horse goes 
backward ; then the driver commences to whip him, and his 
horse will throw its head over the other horse, when the 
driver runs and gets a stake off the fence and strikes his 
horse on the head and knocks him down. He keeps whip- 
ping and thrashing ; it makes no difference whether his 
horse is lying or standing. He thrashes his horse in this 



' TO DKIVK A HORSE. 43 

way for about two hours, when the animal gives a terrific 
jump, between life and death, and draws the wagon and the 
other horse, and goes off on the jump. This man thinks he 
has whipped the balkiness out of his horse ; but no. I can't 
see it in this way. The man that whipped the balkiness 
into this horse taught him one habit, and the man that thinks 
he whipped it out, has taught the horse to pull on the bit, t* 
go on the run, or start on the jump ; and if you don't let him 
go in this way, you will see he is just as balky as ever. 
When you hitch him up you cannot hold him. If you don't 
let him go the first move he makes, he will not go at all. 
Hitch him to a heavy load, and if it will not start at the first 
jump, your horse is just as balk}^ as ever. Keep the harness 
oft' your horse one week, and 3'ou have to go through the 
same course of whipping before he will go ; then he starts on 
the jump just as he did before. Now, if you sell this horse, 
he is sure to balk ^ith the man who buys him. This is 
enough to show that you never whipped the balkiness out of 
him. You could make your horse go, but you had to let 
him have his own way, and he was master more than half the 
time. He may stop at the word whoa, but he will not stand : 
he will want to go, for he is afraid to stand. You may keep 
saying whoa to muke him stand, but this makes him go 
faster. He will be throwing his head up and down, rearing, 
backing, dancing and prancing all over the road. When you 
get ready to go, -your horse will not move for you, for he is 
mad and is ready for another fight with you. Yes, he is 
ready to fight with you every time you don't let him have 
his own way, and will balk, run backward, rear up, and very 
likely fall over backward. He is liable to kick or run 
away. You have taught him' to pull on the bit and go on the 



THE WRONG WAY 



jump. Your horse is altogether master, and he may go or 
stand, or do anything else he takes into his head, and you 
can't avoid it. 

I will giye you a case where the balkiness was whipped 
out of a horse. The man purchased the horse for twenty- 
eight dollars. Because he was so balky, the owner could do 
nothing with him. The man says his •' horse must obey or 
die," procures a good whip, and hitches him up with another 
horse, giving them the word to go : but.his balky horse rears 
right up straight, and the driver strikes him a sharp cut of 
the whip and says '' Whoa !" His horse shakes his head, as 
much as to say, I won't go. The driver stands off a proper 
distance, and holds a tight rel^n, then he commences cutting 
him with the whip, bringing the blood nearly every time he 
strikes him. The horse throws himself down ; but that makes 
no difference to the driver, for he keeps plying the whip ; 
then his horse makes a spring and jump*s, making a plunge 
to go, when the driver surges him back, and says " Whoa !" 
He stops whipping for a few moments, then he gives his 
team the word to go, but his balky horse will not go yet. 
He cuts him with the whip, and says " Whoa !" keeping at 
work in this way for about three hours. Some of the time 
his horse will be lying down. The horse jumps up, straightens 
his ears and whinnows ; the driver ceases to whip him, and 
says " Whoa ! " He has conquered his horse, he gives them 
the word to go, and his team walks off as if nothing had 
happened. This horse will never balk with this man again, 
bT!t it will take him two weeks to heal up his wounds. It 
would not be profitable for this man to take balky horses to 
break up their habits, because he would be likely to kill 



TO DRIVE A HORSE. 45 

5ome of them. It is between life and death to break horses 
in this way. 

You will hear men say that " dancing is not the first step 
to balkiness." They will say that '' they have got horses 
that would get right up and dance and prance and never 
balk." These men always drive their horses -in a buggy 
or some light rig ; but let them hitch their horses to a heavy 
load, and then they will see that they will balk. The 
dancing horse is not fit to draw a load. No, no more fit to 
draw a load than you would be to dance with two bushels of 
wheat on your bairff. 

There are some men who think it stylish to make their 
team jump and dance just as soon as they take up the reins, 
so it becomes a habit, and they get so that you cannot make 
them stand unless when at their heads. In this way you teach 
them to pull on the bit ; then you will drive with a harsh bit, 
when they go pulling and chewing on the bit. Another man 
says, " If I had that team to drive for a couple of days, so 
that I could drive them thirty or forty miles a day, I would 
have them broken so that they would stand." In this way 
you would have to break them every time you harnessed 
them, and in the end you would break, not the horse, but 
his constitution. 

Here is another young man driving a horse that has been 
driven for three years. He says, " Take the reins and see 
how good he is broken, and how good he pulls on the bit." 
He will pull about one hundred pounds, and if he got scared 
he would be apt to pull ten or fifteen hundred pounds, which 
is very often the case with pullers on the bit. I first reined 
him to the left ; he went that way very well. Then I tried to 
rein him to the right ; but there was no give to the rein, and 



46 THE WRONG WAY 

I pulled on it, but all in vain, for it appeared to be as firm as 
if fastened to a hemlock stump. " What is the matter?" I 
said ; "I cannot rein him to the right." " Oh !" said the 
young man, " He will never jee." There are hundreds of 
horses broken in this way ; they only break to one side, that 
is the left side. 

There are some men who try to break balky, kicking and 
runaway horses by putting them on a barn floor, buckling up 
one forefoot ; then they attach a strap to the other forefoot, 
stand at the horse's shoulder, pull the strap and throw 
the horse down ; then they pat and caress him, and if he is 
a runaway horse, they will take the whiffletree and rub him 
all over, to take the fear out of him. They will repeat 
this several times, until they see they have perfect control 
of the horse on the barn floor. This w^ill do very well with 
a wild colt, so as to take out of him that trembling fear he 
has of mankind ; and for the circus horse it will also do, be- 
cause he always goes through his labor in an enclosed tent, 
or some place similar to a barn ; but with a balkj^, kicking, 
runaway horse, to try to break up his habits in this way is 
a complete humbug. When you throw your horse, you 
teach him that you can master him while standing at his 
shoulder ; but when you are behind him on the road, you will 
find that yom* runaway horse can master you, and you will 
see that he is just as ready to run away as he ever was. Your 
training in the barn was all in vain. In the barn you get 
control of him, and you are boss ; but out of doors your horse 
gets control of you, and he is boss. This is what your training 
amounts to. ^ny horse that has learned the habit of balk- 
ing, kicking or running away, to break any of these habits, it 
must be done just where he learned them. If your horse 



TO DRIVE A HORSE. 47 

learns one of thgse habits in the single harness, that is where 
it must be broken up, not in the barn nor in the double 
harness. A horse that learns a habit in the single harness, 
you might drive him in the double harness his life-time, and 
you would not have his habit broken up ; or the horse that 
learns a habit when you are driving him in the double har- 
ness, you may drive him singly his lifetime, and you will not 
have his habit broken up. There are some horses that will 
learn habits when you are driving them on the road, but when 
you are working them on the farm you can drive them all 
right. Such a horse should have its habits broken up on the 
road. I have seen men trying to break a runaway horse by 
driving him with the bitting-cord. In this way you. may get 
control of your horse as long as you drive him with the cord 
or some other harsh bit, but if you ever try to drive him with 
the common straight-bit, you will see that you have no con- 
trol of your horse. This is enough to show you that you 
could never break up his ha-bits with the cord. 

And now, dear reader, I have endeavored to give you 
many and various illustrations of the different methods 
practiced by uninstructed men. Hoping that you will easily 
perceive from every-day life that what I have said in regard 
to the wrong way of driving is true, I shall next proceed to- 
give you the right'-way. 



48 THE RIGHT WAY 

GENERAL REMARKS. 

1 have a few more words to say, then I will endeavor to 
show you the right way to drive a horse. There is no doubt 
but that you have some of these faults or habits in driving 
horses, for no one is perfect. Every man has his faults about 
driving horses, and all were not born to break or educate 
the horse. Some will learn to be doctors, some lawyers, 
some merchants, some farmers, some sailors, some preachers. 
We can all talk, but we cannot all preach. Just so is it in 
driving horses ; we can all drive them in a sort of way, but 
we cannot all break or educate them as they ought to be. 
Here is where all these horse-tamers or trainers have failed, 
when they advertise to teach us how to educate or break the 
horse. They say if we will pay them four or five dollars, they 
will teach us in one hour how to break any horse. This is an 
impossibility. The preacher might as well advertise to teach 
us all how to preach if we will only go into his church 
one hour and hear him. Some men could never learn to 
preach, and they would see that it was an impossibility for 
them to learn. So it is with the breaking or educating of 
the horse ; some men could never learn to break a horse as 
he ought to be. You require to have natural taste and 
ability to be a skillful doctor, and there are men who have 
got it. Some have the aptitude for a lawyer, some for a 
preacher, some for a horse-tamer, or how to educate the 
horse, and so on it goes. If you have not got the natural 
capacity, it is vain for you to try to educate or break the 
horse and do it right. It is useless for those horse-tamers 
who write books and travel through the country, proclaim- 
ing how to break any horse and get control of him, to give 



TO DRIVE A HORSE, 4^ 

the majority of men such instructions. What good is it 
for you to get control of your horse if you do not know 
how to drive him properly, and keep him from learning 
any vicious habit ? Now, I claim there is not more 
than one man in a hundred who knows how to drive a 
young horse, and prevent him from learning any kind of 
a habit ; and there is not more than one horse in a hundred, 
that you see men driving, but has learned some kind of a 
habit. The majority of men cannot see when a horse is 
learning a habit, until he balks, kicks or runs away. These 
horse-trainers never gave you any instructions how to drive 
the horse ; they never told you that it was wrong to push on 
the reins or drive with slack reins ; they never said it was 
wrong to try and hold your horse with a steady pull on the 
reins, when your horse was pulling one hundred, or perhaps 
seven or ten hundred pounds on the bit ; they never told 
how to keep your horse from learning the habit of pulling on 
the bit ; they failed to tell you the right way to punish your 
horse when he disobeyed. When you paid them four or 
live dollars, they never told you that they did not care how 
you drove your horse. Now you can see how you have been 
humbugged. 

HlPliMHfftall^I am for making peace between man and 
beast, and not have them fighting and kicking each other 
every day they work together. First, I will take your high- 
lived colt and take from him that trembling and cringing 
fear he has of mankind when he is approached, I will 
teach him to lead ; I will teach him to hold up his head when 
the bit is in his mouth ; I will teach him not to pull on the 
bit ; I will teach him that when his driver pulls three, five 
or seven pounds on the reins, and gives him the word to go, 



50 THE RIGHT WAY 

he will start right off and hold on the bit just what the driver 
pulls ; I will teach him to turn to the right or left when the 
driver pulls three pounds on one rein and two on the other ; 
I will learn him to go, stop or back-up at the word of com- 
mand ; I will teach him to stand for you to brush or clean him 
off; I will teach him to stand for the smith to shoe him ; I will 
teach him not to fear the harness, buifalo-robe, umbrella or 
sleigh-bells ; and I will teach him to stand hitched to a post 
with a light strap. Some of the colts that are broken in the 
old-fashioned way learn to pull on the halter when you 
leave them hitched to a post with the harness on, or perhaps 
you will find them lying down with your thills or wagon- 
pole broken. The colt that I Tjreak you will never find in 
this disagreeable position. I will teach your colt to draw ; 
I will teach your colt to have the fear of his driver. When 
he gets scared he will not stand" and refuse to go, nor will he 
jump to one side of the road and run and pull on the bit. 
With your low-lived colt, I will take away that ugly and 
stubborn disposition he shows when you give him the 
word to go ; I will teach him to start at the first word, and 
"he will love, fear and obey you. Here are the words I have 
taught your colt to understand. There are three ways to 
start a horse, and I have taught your colt them all. First, 
^' squeak " with your lips ; the next is to say, *' Get up !" and 
the third is " click." Your colt will start with any one of 
these signals. Pull five pounds on your reins and "squeak," 
and your colt will start off on a walk. You may then let him 
walk one rod or one mile, just as you choose, or you can 
start him on the trot. First, give him the word to go, then 
give it the second time, and that starts him to trot. I have 
taught him the words, " Whay, boy I" No one can drive a 



TO DRIVE A HORSK. 51' 

Tiorse right without these words. "When he is trotting, pull 
seven or nine pounds on the reins and say, " Wha}^, boy !" 
and that causes him to walk. If your horse shows any signs 
of doing wrong, this word " whay I" makes him walk right 
along and attend to his own business. This word is a warn 
ing for him to obey, and if he should refuse, he is sure to get 
punished. He has learned to stand when you say " whoa !" 
and he will stand until you tell him to go. By pulling five 
or seven pounds on the reins, and saying " Back !" he will 
backup for you, and this is what I call a well broken horse. 
It is an education for the horse, and when once educated he 
will never forget it ; and this I can accomplish with your colt 
in four days. Are there any of you who can break a horse 
in this way ? 

In your old-fashioned way of breaking them, your high- 
lived horse may stop at the word " whoa I" or he may not ; 
but when you get him stopped, he will not stand. You are 
pulling on the reins and saying " whoa I" but with your 
low-lived colt, you will have to tell him to go four or five 
times before he starts. There is as much difference be- 
tween the horses you break and the ones I break as there is 
between the horse and the ox. I claim, and I challenge con- 
tradiction when I make this statement, that I have invented 
the only true way to bit the colt. The colt that I break, and 
is driven according to my instructions, will never require a 
harsh bit. All horses that you see driven with a harsh bit 
have not been broken rightly. I do not require any harsh bit 
for the colt that I break, only a good straight bar-bit. The 
colt that I have broken, and is driven by my instructions, I 
consider him worth from ten to fifty dollars more than one 
that is broken in the old-fashioned way. Yes, in some 



52 THE RIGHT WAY 

cases he would be worth his full value ; whereas, had he been 
broken in the old way, he would doubtless have been 
rendered useless. Now, dear reader, I will not give you 
any instructions how to break or educate the colt, because it 
would not prove satisfactory with the majority of men as it 
would with me, and then they would find fault with my way of 
breaking the colt, just because it will not work with them as 
it would with me. The country is full of books giving 
instructions how to break the colt ; but there is only one man 
in a hundred that such a book is any value tu ; therefore it is 
useless to put such books in some men's hands, or to give 
them a well-broken horse, without giving them some instruc- 
tions how to drive the horse, so that they will not teach him 
some bad habit. Your young horse is liable to learn bad 
habits if you are not posted and on your guard, and know 
how to put a stop to them in the commencement. 

One cut of the whip in time, 
Very often saveB ninety-nine. 

After I have taught and educated your colt to understand 
the words that are necessary for him, and to know how to 
drawaj^d how to go with the pull on the rein, either to the right 
or left — in one word, after your colt is broken or educated, 
it is an easy matter to drive him. As men who know the pro- 
per way of driving are very scarce, I deemed it necessary to 
write this little book, to show them the difference between 
the right and the wrong way to drive a horse. Any young 
man is liable to spoil three or four horses before he knows any- 
thing about driving, and all for the want of some instructions 
before he takes hold of the reins. This is the reason why 
there are not two men who speak to a horse and drive him 



■■*> TO DRI7E A HORSE. 53 

alike. They are all left to their own judgment to learn as 
best they can. There are some men who have been driving 
less or more for the last seventy years, and who do not know 
how to drive a horse properly, because they were never 
taught to drive the right way. Now, just think how hard it 
is for a horse to understand three or four different drivers. 
Every one drives somewhat differently. Now, when I am 
giving you instructions to drive the horse, I will tell you at 
different times to jerk him with the reins ; then sometimes I 
wall tell you to surge him. This is done by a sudden pull, 
first of one rein and then tlie other. I do not want you to 
pull the horse, first to one side of the road and then to the 
other; but make the bit play back and forth through the 
horse's mouth three or four times. Do it with short and 
sudden pulls, and do it quickly. This is what I call surging 
on the bit. Some men will tell you that it will spoil a 
horse to surge or jerk him with the reins. Yes, sometimes 
it will. Now, I suppose you are aware that many a fine 
horse has been spoiled by whipping him; but that is no 
reason why we all should throw away the whip, because 
some men do not know how to use it. Many a horse learns 
the habit of kicking, just by putting the harness on ; but is 
that any reason why we should never harness our colts ? 
This trouble all arises from not knowing how to do these 
things properly ; and to prevent you having the same diffi- 
culty, I will teach you how. 

The colt that I break should be surged every time I tell 
you, and your colt will then know just what it means, be- 
cause he has become habituated to it. To surge a horse that 
had never been surged before, Avould make him act rather 
awkward the first few times. Some men will tell you that 
5 



54 THE RIGHT WAY 

they never surge their horses ; that they will let them learn 
the habit of pulling five or six hundred pounds on the bit, and 
sometimes allow them to run away. Before I would let a- 
horse run away with me, I would pull, jerk, surge and do 
everything else I could think of to stop him. We have got 
to take advantage of the horse's strength by every means 
in our power, or they Avill jerk and haul us around just 
as they please. Most people in the country who drive 
horses use a common whip stock and a buckskin lash for a 
whip. Such a whip as this is superior to all whips, when a 
man knows how to use it ; but only one in a hundred know^s- 
how to strike a blow with such a whip. When this is the- 
case, I would advise you to get one of those whalebone 
whips, covered with leather, and finished at the top with two- 
or three feet of buckskin lash. Such a whip as this every 
man can strike with quickly and give a good blow ; and 
always keep a good cracker on your whip. When you strike 
a horse with a whip, never hit him on the back. If you are 
driving a team of horses, the one that is on the off side 
should be struck on the off side just below the flank, or on 
the off hind leg, if necessary ; and the horse that is on the 
near side also should be struck on the near side, as you did 
the other ; in this way you keep your team from spreading 
apart. When your horse is broken or educated, I don't 
believe in all this coaxing and patting him for everything 
you want him to do. He has learned to obey, and he knows 
he must or get punished. After he obeys, you may pat and 
coax him if you choose. Neither do I approve of too much 
whipping and shouting at your team for everything you want 
them to do. This is nothing but a habit. The team that is 



TO DRIVE A HORSE. 55 



driven according to my instructions one month will never re- 
quire the word the second time to make them obey. 



HOW TO DRIVE AFTER A COLT IS WELL 

. BROKEN. 
When I break a team of colts for you, do not put them in 
the stable and allow them to stand three or four weeks before 
harnessing, but put the harness on them the next day, 'and 
give them a chance to practice what they have . learned, as 
"practice makes perfect." Before you put the harness on, 
make yourself, acquainted with the colts. If they are in- 
clined to put their ears back when you go into the stall, carry 
your whip behind, so that they cannot see it ; then go 
near enough to make them put their ears back ; step back to 
one side, give them a sharp cut of the whip, and say 
" Whoa!" Afterwards go into the stall and pat and caress 
them. Practice this twice a day until they give up the habit 
of putting their ears back. This will teach them to fear and 
obey you. They would rather have you in the stall with 
them than have you behind, cutting them w^th the whip. 
This will teach them to step on one side of the stall when 
they see you coming, and look around as if glad to see you. 
When they do this, treat them kindly. Take the harness 
and put it on the colts, and when you are doing so, do not 
keep saying "Whoa!" As you put it on say "Whay!" 
Buckle up the harness so that it will fit comfortably. Do not 
have the collar too large ; and the headstall of the bridle, 
buckle it up so that the bits will not be hanging half way out 
of the mouth. Bring them out and hitch them to your 



50 THK RiaHT WAY 

wagon or sleigh. Now that they are liitched, do not be in a 
hurry ; they will stand until you tell them to go. Pull up 
on your reins live or seven pounds, squeak, and they will 
start off on a walk. When they are walking, you must learn 
to pull a steady rein of three or five pounds. This teaches 
them to know thai they have a right to drive up on the bit 
and hold the five pounds that you pull. In this Avay you 
keep your colts from learning the habit of turning and twist- 
ing their heads from one side to the other, and they will hold 
up their heads and attend to their business as they go along. 
The tight rfein teaches them that you have a hold on them, 
and are under your control. They will not take the liberty 
of '^' cutting-up, " like horses driven \Wth a slack rein. Be- 
sides, when you hold a tight reign, and should one of your 
horses make a misstep and stumble, you are capable of pull- 
ing a hundred pounds, if necessary, to prevent him from 
falling. In fact, it is impossible to drive a horse right unless 
you hold a tight rein, and learn your team to drive up on the 
bit and hold just what you pull. It is necessary sometimes 
to pull twenty-two pounds on a steady rein, but you must 
never pull any more. When your team is well broken, and 
taught to drive up on the bit, it is the easiest thing in the 
world to drive them, if you go according to my instructions. 
When you are driving them with a five pound rein, and 
when you want to turn to the right or left, all you have 
to do is to pull two pounds on one and three pounds on the 
other rein. In this way you will always bring your team 
around together ; and in holding both reins tight, you keep 
each horse in his place. If you are turning them to the left, 
you keep the near horse from going two feet ahead of his 
mate, and the off horse is prevented from going around too 



TO DRIVE A HORSK. 57 

fast, and while doing so perhaps step on the near horse 
and calk him. When you see horses calked, it is a sure sign 
of a poor driver. Hold a tight rein, and you keep your team 
from getting the advantage of you. No matter how well a 
team may be broken to drive, if the driver does not know 
how to hold the reins and handle the whip, his team is sure 
to learn some bad habit before he drives them a year. 
Perhaps they will not learn to balk, kick or run away; but 
there are hundreds of other habits that horses will learn, and 
which spoils them as a nice driving team. It is useless for 
you to call them well broken when you let them learn tlie 
habit of pulling on the bit, or being driven with a slack 
rein. Slack rein driving and harsh bits must all go out of 
use before we can call our horses well broken. When a 
team learns one of these habits, it is impossible for you or 
any other man to drive them right until they are broken 
up. I do not believe in keeping a young team on a 
walk for seven months or seven years, before letting them 
trot. Pull up a seven pound rein, give them the word to go, 
and they will start off on the trot. When they trot as far as 
you .want tliem to, make a practice of bringing them to a 
walk by pulling nine pounds on the reins, and say " Whay !" 
In this way your team will never learn the habit of trotting 
a few rods and then stopping, but will keep on until they hear 
the word "whay." In adhering to this rule, you teach them 
that they can trot their full speed when in the harness, and 
yet they are under your control ; and when they know tbis, 
they will never try to run away. When you want to stop 
them, the word " whoa " will do it. You may then slack 
up on your reins or crack your whip, without any fear of 
their starting off, for they have learned to stand until you tell 



58 THE KIGIIT WAY 

them to go. The first year you drive your team. I would not 
advise you to leave them without hitching; but do not hitcli 
them so that they can go fi.ve or six feet before they know 
wliether the}^ are hitched or not ; but hitch them short, 
never leaving a strap more than two feet long from the 
bit to the post. Lengthen the check"i*eins and lettliem have 
their' heads down, so that they can rest thg chords of their 
necks. Practice this for two or three weeks every time you 
hitch them. You may think this way don't look well ; but 
it is better to do tliis for a few w^eeks than to leave them 
checked up, and get the chords of their necks strained and 
stiffened for life, which you would be ver}^ likely to do hy 
keeping them checked up too long at first. Those horses 
3' on see in harness that hold their noses out straight, liketlie 
dog called the pointer, have had the chords of the neck 
strained by checking them up too high when they were 
young. When you are ready, check them up and start along 
agam. If you see that your colts are going to get frightened 
at something, that is no reason why you should get the same 
way. Just hold a steady rein, and if they seem to act as if 
they do not want to go, squeak, and they will go right along ; 
but if they should try to pull on the bit, say " Whay !" and 
they will obey. Do not drive them too far the first few 
times, lest they might get leg weary or sullen. Five or ten 
miles a day is far enough. 



WHAT YOU MUST NEVER DO. 

You must never let any horse which I break or educate start 
without giving him the word to go, and never say " Whoa!" 



TO DRIVE A HORSE. 59 

unless you mean it. When he disobeys you, whip him ; but 
never let him trot or run after punishment unless you want 
him to do so. Never start your horse with a slack rein. 
When you turn to the right or left, never push on one rein 
and pull on the other. Never strike him a light blow witli 
the whip. In place of doing so, crack your whip, for in 
striking a horse a light blow of the Avhip it is nothing but 
trifling with him. Never trifle with a horse, but everything 
you say or do, let it be done in earnest. Never give your 
horse the word to go four or five times 'before he starts ; 
make him obey the first or second word. Never pull back 
and forth on your reins, or keep clicking, to keep them going 
or make them trot ;• give them the word to go, and if they 
don't start fast enough or trot, crack your whip or give them 
a sharp cut of it. Never strike your horse on the back with 
the whip. Never drive a young team without having a whip 
with you, because you don't know what minute it will be 
necessary to use it. 

During the first six months you drive your colts, never 
make a practice of starting them on the trot, but start them 
on a walk, and let them walk five or ten rods or a mile ; 
then trot them if you choose. In driving your team, never 
allow one of them to be half a foot or more ahead of the 
other, as this is driving one and leading the other, but always 
make them drive up evenly together. When you want to 
start, never strike them with the whip before you tell them- 
to go. This is getting '' the cart before the horse." First, 
give them the word to go ; then, if they don't start, use your 
whip. When they are walking, never allow them to start on 
the trot without giving the word to go. Never pat and pet 
your horse to make him obey you, but first punish him for 



60 THE RIGHT WAY 



disobedience, and then caress him' if you choose. If you 
want him to do something that he never did before, you 
must first teach and show him with kindness what you want 
him to do. After he learns it, he should be made to obey or 
be punished. Never drive a young horse wdth slack reins, 
and never hold or allow your team to pull over eleven pounds 
on the bit, except when you are starting ; then you must 
hold a steady rein until they go three or four rods. If one 
of your horses is then inclined to pull more than this, say 
"Whay !" If this don't stop him from pulling, ease up on 
his rein until he goes a step ahead of the other horse ; then 
give him a jerk, at the same time say " Whay !" Do this 
with him a few times, and he will be afraid to go ahead of the 
other horse. When he submits to your wishes, never surge 
or pull hard on the reins. If your horse gets scared, and 
starts off on the jump, never try to hold him with a steady 
rein, but surge him every time ; but you must never use a 
harsh bit. Always drive with a straight bar-bit. Never 
make a practice of slapping your horse with the rein, by toss- 
ing it up and then bringing it down with a jerk. In doing 
so, if your horse is tender-bitted you make him awkward, and 
he don't know what you mean ; and you are liable to teach 
him to rear up, and confuse him so that he is liable to balk. 
When your horse disobeys and refuses to go, because he is 
afraid of a bridge, or perhaps gets mad and w^ants to balk, 
never take hold of his head to lead him. Never make a 
practice of stopping your horse by pulling on the reins. In 
this way you will teach him to stop to allow you to talk to 
every man you meet on the road. Never allow him to stop un- 
less you say "Whoa !" except when you are plowing wit^ him 
and the plow strikes a solid rock ; your horse then has a right 



*! 



TO DRIVE A HORSE. GT 

to Stop until you tell him to go. Sometimes a horse will' 
stick up his head and act as if he did not know how to start, 
or want to pull a pound on the bit ; when he does this, you 
should not surge, jerk or pull hard, but give him a kind, 
steady rein. When you have a rein in each hand, do not 
let your hands be more than six or twelve inches apart, and 
never wind the reins around your hands. Never make a 
practice of unbuckling the crupper before you take the har- 
ness off. In this way your horse will not learn to hold the 
rein if he switches his tail over it. Never make a practice 
of going into the stall on the off side of your horse to feed' 
him. By so doing you teach him the habit of stepping to- 
the left side of the stall, and when you go to put the harness 
on him he is apt to step on your foot ; then you are likely to 
blame your horse, when your own awkwardness was the 
cause of him stepping on you. Never make a practice of 
currying and cleaning your horse when he is eating, as 
this is liable to teach him the habit of putting his ears back 
when any one goes up to him, and will make him cross and 
inclined to kick ; at least, it will make him look cross,. 
and strangers will be afraid of going near him. In this way 
you hurt the sale of your horse. Whenever you Avant 
to curry or clean him, take him out of the stall and hitch 
him on the barn floor or out of doors, as the dust and 
hair blows into the manger if you perform the operation in- 
side. Never whip, jerk or surge too much, but always treat 
your horse kindly when you see him willing to obey.. 



62 THE RIGHT WAY 



THE WAY TO PUNISH YOUR HORSE WHEN 
HE DISOBEYS. 

It makes no difference how well horses are broken, some 
day or other they are liable to disobey. It is then necessary 
to punish them in the right waj^, in order to have control of 
them, and keep the fear of disobedience in them. By doing 
so you can always make them obe}^ you. You hitch them 
to the harrow ; one of them is a high-lived, and the other a 
low-lived horse. When 5^ou pick up the reins, your high- 
lived horse starts and goes a step ahead of his mate. Give 
him a jerk and say " Whoa !" and this will teach him to know, 
that he has no right to start until you give him the word to 
go. Don't stand ajid hold a tight rein, as if you are afraid 
he will get away from you, but slack up on your reins, and 
let him dare to start again. Now he is standing still ; pull 
your reins tight and give him the word to go, and they will 
both start together. Drive them across the field a few times, 
always holding both reins tight. Now try to turn them 
around short, and one of them curbs his head down, so you 
cannot hold him in his place with a steady rein of eleven 
pounds ; therefore ease up on his rein and give him a jerk ; 
then, if he is ahead of the other horse, surge him, saying 
" Whay !" Hold a steady rein again, as it will never do for 
the slack rein driver to jerk his horse, because it teaches him 
to understand that he has no right to pull on the bit, or try 
to pull the reins from you. This is the only way to get con- 
trol of his mouth, or keep him from learning the habit of 
pulling on the bit. He has no right to pull on the bit ; but, 
at the same time, you must never punish him for doing so 



TO DRIVE A HORSK. 63 

until he pulls more than eleven pounds, because it is hard 
for a horse to learn the difference between holding seven 
pounds on the bit or pulling seven pounds. When your 
horse pulls five or eleven pounds on the bit, you should hold 
just what he pulls ; but when he does not offer to pull any 
on it, 3^ou should pull up five or seven pounds on the reins, 
and make him drive up and hold just what you pull. Your 
low-lived horse is a little tired or lazy, and he don't drive up 
on the bit as he ought tt), and is four or five inches behind 
his mate. You then give him the word to go, and he 
drives up on the bit, but he don't stay there a minute until 
he is right back again. Hold both reins in the left hand, 
and give him a sharp cut of the whip ; he will then jump and 
try to run. Now is your time to surge him, as this will 
teach him that he is never safe unless he drives up on the 
bit, and holds his share of a five or seven pound rein. Surg- 
ing also teaches him that you did not whip him to run or 
trot. Now, they both drive up on the bit, and when they 
go ten rods, say "Whoa!" Go up to them, pat and caress 
them, pull up their collars and rub the sweat oft' their breasts. 
This will let the air under their collars and keep their breasts 
from scalding. If the crack of the whip caused the high- 
lived horse to get excited, stopping them quiets down all the 
excitement, and patting teaches them to love you ; and they 
will always obey that word '' whoa," if you treat them kindly 
when they obey. Such a team as this the majority of men 
have a great deal of trouble with to make them drive to- 
gether. When we first commenced to drive them, the high- 
lived horse had too much fear of the whip, and not enough 
fear of the bit ; and the low-lived horse had too much fear 
of the bit, and not enough fear of the whip. If you make a 



64 THE RIGHT WAY 

practice of giving your low-lived horse a sharp cut of the 
whip every time he tries to stay behind his mate, and surge 
on the bit, this teaches him to fear you and your whip^ 
and he will soon learn to know that he is perfectly safe 
when he keeps up with his mate. When he knows this he 
will keep up without whipping at all. On the other hand^. 
when your high-lived horse is a little ahead of his mate, he 
hears the crack of the whip, and then he is sure to get 
surged on the bit. To make a practice of cracking your 
whip behind your high-lived horse and not striking him, 
will teach him to care very little about it. This is the way 
to take the fear of the whip out of the high-lived horse. 
When he gets surged on the bit, every time he hears the 
crack of the whip he learns to fear the bit, and to know that 
he has no right to go ahead of his mate. When he under- 
stands this, he will stay back even with him, it makes no 
difference how slow he goes. Now, no matter how fast or 
slow you may drive, they are both together. The low-lived 
horse is afraid to get behind, because he is sure to get a cut 
of the whip ; and the high-lived horse is afraid to go ahead ^ 
because he is sure to get surged on the bit. This is the 
way to make them both obey, every day you drive them to- 
gether. 

You drive them across the field three or four times. 
Your high-lived horse is on the off side, and every time you 
turn them to the near side, the high-lived horse switches his 
tail and tries to turn around on the double-quick step, and 
acts as if he was going to kick. The last three or four 
times they are coming around, you say '' Whay !" and he 
pays no attention to you. Now, when you have them 
turned halfway around, say " Whay !" and give him a jerk 



TO DRIVE A HOItSK. 65 

with his rein, which wiH set him back; then give him a 
sharp cut of the whip, and say " Whoa !" This teaches him 
that he must obey. Every time you say " Whay " do not 
let them turn all the way around, but make them stand when 
they are half way around. This teaches the high -lived 
horse to fear and obey you. Let them stand a few moments, 
then start again, and the next time you turn he will come 
around steady and be ready to obey the word " whay " or the 
word " whoa." If you want to have a nice driving team, you 
must not have too much to say to them, and see that what- 
ever you say is faithfully obeyed. When you turn them 
around to the right or left, they m^jst learn to come around 
all right without saying a word. In this way it is easy to 
learn them the difference between right and wrong. When 
your high-lived horse starts at the Avord of command, and 
goes along all right and attends to his own business, you have 
nothing to say ; but when he attempts to disobey, you should 
speak to him ; then he knows he must obey or get punished. . 
When he knows this he will be always willing to try to 
obey, if he is sure to get well treated and a kind, steady 
rein. This is an inducement for him always to obey you. 

Wlien turning them around to the left, and your low- 
lived horse seems to stand and turn his head around to his 
side, give him a sharp cut of the whip and then surge him. 
This will teach him he must obey the pull of the rein, either 
to the right or left. It will also teach him that he must go 
with a kind, steady rein, or get a cut of the whip and surged 
on the bit. In surging a horse it teaches him that you 
are the strongest, and that he is under your control. He 
will also learn that it is useless to try to pull on the 
bit ; and wh^n he knows this, you can hold him with a 



(>6 THE RIGHT WAT 

steady rein of eleven pounds, and give liim a cut of the whip ; 
and when you can do this, it is not always necessary to 
surge him when you strike him with the whip. 

In hitching them to a wagon to draw a load of wood 
or manure, always make a practice of starting them on a 
slow walk, and then they will learn how to set themselves, 
to draw. "When you give them the word to go, pull up a 
seven pound rein, and when the}' start, let them do so with 
a five pound rein, if they start together. In starting them^ 
with a tight rein, you are always read}^ to hold either of them 
back, if he tries to get the start of his mate. In setting out 
slowly, they learn to start their load before they try to travel. 
They step up with their shoulder against the collar, then 
they set themselves with every foot braced to the earth, and 
start the load by stretching themselves and by pushing- 
iigainst the collars. When they start it, they walk right 
along both together. In starting them slowly, it teaches- 
them that they can manage their load -when they go slowly, 
and when they know this you will never have any jumping,, 
dancing and tripping up on the forward end. The dancing^ 
horse tries to start his load on three legs, sometimes on two. 
This you ought to know will never do, because four legs are- 
always stronger than two. The jumping and dancing horse 
never learns how to set hhnself to draw properly. 

You have just cramped your wagon and pull seven 
pounds on the reins, and say *' Back !" Your high-lived 
horse backs about two feet, your low-lived horse stands still 
and does not offer to back, but is inclined to pull on the bit. 
Ease up on his rein, give him one good jerk, and then surge 
him ; this sets him back two or three feet ; then say 
"Whoa I" Now, pull your seven pound rein and say 



TO DlilVE A HORSE. 67 

" Back !" If he refuses to back with the seven pound rein, 
give him another jerk, and surge him as you did before. 
This will teach him that when he does not obey the steady 
rein and the' word "back," he is sure to get jerked; and 
the jerk hurts his mouth so much that it causes him to back 
up. You must bear in mind that you should never pull a 
steady rein of fifty or a hundred pounds, for in so doing you 
teach your horse to set himself to pull against you ; then four 
men could not pull him back, and jerking and surging would 
have no effect. If this ever happens with you, start him up 
a step or two, which will take the set out of him. Now, al- 
ways give him the kind, steady rein, and the word " back," 
before you jerk him. This will be a warning to him, and 
he will soon learn that you will not punish him if he only 
obeys the word "back," and the kind, steady rein. 

Your high-lived horse always wants to try and be a little 
too smart to learn, and before you get your wagon half 
cramped, he will commence backing up full drive, bringing 
his mate with him. You will be crying, " Whay !" " Whoa !" 
" Get up !" and he will pay no attention to you. Give him 
a sharp cut of the whip and make him walk up a step or two ; 
then say "Whoa!" This teaches him that he must obey 
those words which he was taught to understand, and he will 
pay attention to you. Give them then a kind, steady rein, 
and squeak. Rein them to the right or left, and say " Back 
up !" Your high-lived horse backs up steady, and is ready to 
obey any of those words he was taught to understand. 

You hitch them to your buggy and drive them on the 
road. Now, you want to start them on the trot, and you 
pull up seven pounds on your reins and squeak for them to 
go. Your high-lived horse starts up and shows you he is 



'o8 THE Kianr way' 

willing to go, but the low-lived horse will not pay attention 
to you. Give him one sharp cut of the whip, then surge him 
until you see you can hold him with an eleven pound rein ; 
then give them the word to go, and they will both start off 
on the trot together. When they trot a few rods, commence 
easing up on the reins by degrees until you let them out to 
about seven pounds. In punishing j^our horse in this way, 
it teaches him that j^ou did not whip him to make him run or 
merely trot, but that you punished him because he did not 
pay attention and obey those words he was taught to under- 
stand. 

Your high-lived horse commences to gallop, and every 
time you see him getting ready to jump, ease up a little on 
his rein, and let him jump a little ahead of his mate, and 
when he alights on the ground, give him a jerk with his rein. 
You must not jerk him too hard, but just jerk him hard 
enough so that he will not run any faster than his mate can 
trot. This teaches him that galloping is a hard way to 
travel. In keeping time with every jump, it teaches him to 
think that it is his jumping that makes the bit jerk and jar 
in his mouth ever}'' time he alights on the ground, and he will 
soon take the hint and start on the trot. If he does not 
commence to trot before he goes ten rods, hold him up with 
an eleven pound rein, and say "Whay!" Now he strikes 
out on the trot. Give them the word to go, and they both 
start together on the full trot, and when they trot as far as you 
want them to, pull up a nine pound rein, and say " Whay !" 
If they do not pay attention to you, then surge them, 
and give them to understand that they must obey the word 
^' whay." This teaches them that when they are trotting, and 
you pull a nine pound rein and say " Whay !" if they don't 



T() DRIVE A H0R8K. 09 

hold up and walk, they are sure to get surged on the bit. A 
few lessons of this kind will soon teach them to walk as soon 
as they hear "whay!" 

One of your horses curbs his head down, and is biting the 
neck-yoke ; ease up on his rein and give him a jerk. This 
teaches him that every time he puts his teeth against the 
neck-yoke he will get jerked. When, he knows this he will 
not put his head down to get it jerked. 

When they start to trot, you say " Whay !" and they hold 
up ; then they will go but a few rods when they start up 
again ; so ease up on the reins and let them trot a rod or two, 
then surge them, saying "Whay !" This teaches them that 
they must never dare to start to trot, until you give them 
the word to go. If you let your high-fed and high-spirited 
horse start off on the trot every time he takes the notion, it 
will become a habit, and he will want to trot all the time 
when he is on the road ; and he learns to think that you have 
no right to pull on the reins to try to make him walk; in 
fact, he gets so that he thinks he knows his business better 
than you do ; and when you wish to hold him up to make 
him walk, he will fret, sweat, dance and perhaps pull on the 
bit, and very likely rear up ; so that you get yourself into a 
regular flare-up, and perhaps lose all control of your horse 
just by letting him take the liberty to trot whenever he takes 
the notion. By giving a horse this liberty, should he get 
scared, he is sure to start and run, and it is useless to punish 
him for taking this liberty if you give him permission to trot 
Avheiicver he takes the notion. Never give your high-lived 
horse any such liberty, and he will get so that he will never 
try to take it, but keep him under the strictest rules, and 
then you can feed, fatten, and fit him up in style., and drive 
*6 



70 THE RIGHT WAY 

him fast or slow as you please, because you have him pro- 
perly broken. He will be always uuder your controland wil- 
ling to obey; because if he does not, he knows what he may 
expect to get for disobedience. Your team get scared at a 
hog ; they start on a trot, and you surge them on the bit, but 
the surging takes no effect, and they go off on a gallop. 
Ease up, first on one rein, then on the other, and jerk them 
righ and left. • Keep time with every jump, so that the bit 
will jar their mouth every time they alight on the ground, 
and jerk them until you see that you can hold them by pull- 
ing eleven pounds on each rein ; then say " Whoa !" at the 
same time surging them down until they stand with every 
foot on the ground. They stop, but the high-lived horse 
does not want to stand, and is dancing. Give him a sharp 
cut of the whip, surge him, and say " Whoa!" This gives 
him to understand that you are his master and he must obey. 
Any horse that has been bitted and broken in the right way, 
so that you have control of his mouth with the straight-bit, 
it is impossible for him to try to resist the jerk of the reins, 
and he never will if you only try and drive him in a proper 
manner. The first or second jerk you gave them had such 
an effect upon them that they forgot all about the hog. A 
horse that is broken to understand what the jerk of a rein 
means, knows that the jerking will never stop until he ceases 
galloping. When he knows this, he will not start and run 
every time he gets scared, because he knoAvs he is sure to 
get jerked. Surging and jerking a horse teaches him to fear 
the bit, and this fear becomes so much stronger than the 
fear of the hog or anything else he would get scared at, that 
he will never dare to jump or try to run even if he should 
get scared. Stopping them teaches them that it is useless to 



TO DRIVE A HORSE. 71 

try to run away, and when they know this they will give 
themselves up to you and be willing to obey. 

You start them again ; you come to a bridge, and your 
team is afraid to go across it. You hold a five or seven 
pound rein and sit ready, so that if they jump to the right 
you jerk them with the left rein, and strike the off horse a 
sharp cut of the whip ; or if they jump to the left, you jerk 
them with the right rein, and strike the near horse. As 
good fortune would have it, they did not jump either to the 
right or left, but when coming up to the bridge they slackened, 
up and walked very slow. You gave them the word to go 
and they paid no attention to you. The high-lived horse 
jumps back, then they stop. Strike the high-lived one a 
sharp cut, then the low-lived one. Bring them to time with 
your whip right and left, and away they go over the bridge, 
driving right up on the bit. Hold them with a steady rein 
until they go over the bridge ; then, if you cannot hold them 
on a walk, with eleven pounds on each rein, surge them and 
make them walk, until you see that they are willing to walk ; 
then trot them if you choose. This is the way to always 
keep the fear of disobedience in the horse. The next bridge 
you come to they will not forget, and will give all their 
attention to the bridge, for when you give them the word to 
go they will not stop, because they are sure to get a cut of 
the whip ; and they will not start to trot or run, because they 
are certain to get surged on the bit ; so they go right along 
and attend to their business. They learn to know that the 
bridge will never hurt them, and they will go over it just as 
freely as they would go under a shade tree in the pasture. 
In this way your team learns to put confidence in your word, 
and will always obey you, no matter how much they are 



72 THE RIGHT WAY 

scared, as iong as you have them trained in a proper manner. 
No man can break a high-spirited, nervous horse so that he 
will never get scared, because something may occur any day 
that would scare any horse, no matter how well broken he 
may be. I never whip or jerk a horse for getting scared, 
providing he keeps his place and is willing to obey, but 
should he disobey he will be punished in a proper manner. 
When 3^our horse gets scared, stands up and refuses to go, or 
begins to trot, run or jump on one side of the road, if you 
never punished him for it, he would not know that he was 
doing wrong, and these bad habits would become confirmed, 
and perhaps after these others more dangerous would follow, 
and the result ^yould be a tip-over, a kick-up and a runaway. 
Then the wagon-maker would have to be paid, and perhaps 
the doctor too, and very likely the undertaker would come in 
for a job also. Such accidents as these we hear of almost 
every day. So a little reflection will show you how 
necessary it is to have your horse broken to the bit and 
taught to obe}^: then you can have confidence in him and be 
perfectly safe. 

Yon are driving along all right, when out comes a little 
dog and ^^arks at the horses. Pay close attention to the 
team and Avatch every movement they make with their ears. 
One of them lays his ears back, cringes and shows you every 
sign of kicking. Surge him, and say " Whay I" This 
draws his attention to you, and hs thinks no more about the 
dog. But if ho vr;i3 too quick for you, and kicked at the 
dog, jerk him, nii'J s:i;.' ''Whay!" Bo roady to jerk him 
just as soon as ho kicks ;' he will then tliiik it was his kict 
that caused the jerk on t!ie bit, and lie v.'ill not do so any 
more. If he shows more signs of kicking, surge him again, 



TO DRIVE A HORSE. 



73 



and give him a sharp cut of the whip, and say '' Whay !" 
This will teach him to pay attention and obey that word. It 
will also give him to understand that he must never dare to 
kick when he is in the harness. The moment you surge or 
jerk a horse that has been trained to it, his attention is drawn 
to his mouth, then he will be careful in his movements, and 
avoid the pain consequent on being surged. It is impossi- 
ble for a horse to mind two things at once. The moment 
his attention is drawn to his head by a jerk, he forgets all 
about his heels. Surging and jerking also makes him hold 
up his head ; this settles his weight on his hind legs, and it 
is impossible for him to kick when his head is raised in the 
air. When I get control of the mouth by my way of bitting, 
it is impossible for any horse to kick ; and if you only 
handle the reins in the manner I tell you, he will never kick 
with you. Believe me, dear reader, you will find it a very 
easy matter to correct and make the horse obey that has 
been bitted and broken in the way I prescribe. You can 
hold him with an eleven pound rein, and bring him to time 
with your whip. He is not like a horse that is allowed to 
pull on the bit. Keep control of the mouth , and you have 
full control of the horse. If you say " Whoa !" and he pays 
no attention to it, give him a jerk and surge him, and repeat 
the word "whoa" with authority; and the next time you 
wish to stop him he will be quick and ready to obey the 
word "whoa." 



HABITS OF SLACK REIN DRIVING, HOW TO 

OVERCOME THEM ; ALSO BALKING. 
First, a team has learned the habit of jumping back and 



74 THE RIGHT WAY 

forth when you try to start them with a load. Whenever 
they commence jumping back and forth, first one, then the 
other, never make a practice of clicking, whipping and halloo- 
ing at them to start. Always cry out " Whoa! " and put a 
stop to such conduct by giving the slow horse two or three 
sharp cuts of the whip ; and when you are whipping him, 
hold them and repeat the word "whoa" each " time after 
striking him. This teaches him to fear and obey you, and 
when you give the word to go, he will be as anxious to start 
as you and your high-lived horse. Now, when they have 
both obeyed, give them the word to go, and just as they start, 
rein them a little to the right or left, and they will start both 
together, and you will have no more trouble. 

Another team, the high-lived horse of which has learned 
the habit 0/ pulling on the bit, and dancing with his hind- 
quarters against the outside trace, seems to act as if he 
thought he could run away. You have said " Whay, boy!" 
two or three times, but he pays no attention to it Ease up 
on his rein and give him a jerk, and every three or four rods 
give him another jerk, three or four times. He does not pull 
so hard on the bit now, but is dancing sideways, and wants 
to act ugly or disobedient if you do not allow him to have 
his own way. Now is your time to bring him under sub- 
jection and make him obey. Be quick and handy, and do 
just as I tell you. and he will soon learn to act becomingly. 
Give him a sharp cut of the whip around the leg that is 
against the trace, then jerk and surge him. When you jerk, 
it brings him into his place, but he is right back again. 
Strike him with you whip every time he gets out against the 
trace, and jerk and surge him after striking him. Give him 
four or five sharp cuts of the whip, and don't let them go any 



TO DRIVE A HORSK. 75 

faster than a walk ; then surge and say "Whoa!" and let 
them stand a few moments. Nothing will take the conceit 
out of a high-spirited horse so much as to cut him with the 
whip, and make him obey the word "whoa." Stopping 
them gives a chance to quiet down the excitement, whereas 
if you keep up the irritation too long, perhaps they will get 
the advantage of you. Stopping also convinces him that it 
is useless to try to get away from you. Start them again 
and they go five or six rods all right, then he jumps out 
again. Treat him as you did before, and when you start 
again, he goes off all right, just the same as if nothing had 
happened. He is convinced that you are his master ; he is 
satisfied and willing to obey, and will keep his place as long 
as you drive him. Treating him in this way teaches him 
that you did not whip him to make him run or trot, but that 
you punished him for not obeying the word " whay," and for 
not keeping his place. The moment he does this you must 
never strike him with the whip, but let him learn to under- 
stand that he is perfectly safe when he keeps his place and 
is willing to obey. 

Here is another team of which the high-lived horse has 
been trifled with, and has too much fear of the bit. When 
you give them the word to go, he sticks up his head and 
oommences to dance. The low spirited one pays no atten- 
tion to you, and stands perfectly still. Hitch them to a 
harrow or light waggon, hold a tight rein, and give them 
the word to go ; then strike the low-spirited horse a cut of 
the whip, and they will go all right. Keep them on a walk, 
and when they go thirty or forty rods, say " Whoa !" Stop 
them just to have the pleasure of starting them again. 
Start them just as you did the first time ; treat them in this 



76 



THE KIGHT WAT 



way five or six times, and you will see that all the dancing 
is stopped, and you have a team that knows how to start. 

Here is another team, both of which have learned the 
habit that, before starting, you will have to click to them five 
or six times, and when they do so the high-spirited one 
always starts first. He has also learned the habit of pulling 
on the bit, and goes a foot ahead of his mate. The low- 
lived one has the habit of staying a foot behind his mate, and 
never drives up on the bit. They both have learned bad 
habits, and you must punish both of them in the right way 
in order to make them drive together. In three days' time, 
if you follow my instructions, you will have these bad habit& 
broken up, so that they will drive right up evenly together. 
The first thing you must do is to shift the buckles on the 
cross reins, so that the reins will be three or four inches 
shorter on the high-lived horse than they are on the low- 
lived one. You are all ready, pull up a tight rein, and give 
them the word to go ; but they pay no attention to you. Give 
the low-lived horse four or five cuts of the whip, hold them, 
and say " Whoa!" If you cannot hold them with eleven 
pounds on each rein, surge them every time after striking. 
Now, you have got through whipping, and 'they both obey 
the word " whoa;" give the word to go, and they both start 
together. Hold the high-lived horse back with a seven or 
an eleven pound rein. You must not make him walk 
too slow, but let him have his natural gait, and they walk 
right up together until they go about a hundred rods ; then 
you will see the low-lived one commencing to hold up. He 
wants to get back a foot behind his mate. Keep still 
and don't say a word ; let him get clear back as far as he 
can ; then bring him up into his place with one good cut of 



TO DRIVE A HORSE. 77 

the whip. Say " Whay, boy !" to the high-lived horse, and 
if you cannot hold them with a twenty-two pound rein, surge 
them. They drive right up together one hundred rods 
farther ; then say " Whoa !" and when you start them, 
watch the low-lived horse and see that he is willing to obey 
the first word you give them to go. If he does not, give him 
a cut of the whip, and they both go together. Attend right 
to your business, and treat him in this way as often as 
it is necessary, and you will soon see that he will take the 
hint, and try and stay up in his place. You will see that 
when he gets a few inches behind his mate, he will think of 
the whip and spring right up into his place. Or perhaps 
you were just ready to strike him, and he was too quick for 
you and jumped up into his place ; draw back your whip, 
don't strike him, but be ready for him the next time he 
comes back. Let him learn to know he is perfectly safe 
when he is up in his place. There are certain times that the 
high-lived horse is not satisfied to stay back even with his 
mate and go on a common walk. He wants to go on the 
double-quick step, and draw all the load himself He wishes 
to get a foot ahead of his mate, and in trying to do so draws- 
as if he was mad, pulls the eleven pound rein from you, and 
gets ahead of his mate. Ease up on his rein and give him 
a jerk. This will make him come back ; but he acts as if 
going to balk and almost stops. Don't click or say a word. 
The low-lived horse goes right along, and when he gets a 
little ahead, his mate goes right off with him, and is very 
cautious about pulling on the bit ; in fact, he is afraid to go 
ahead of his mate again. Give him a kind, steady rein, and 
perhaps he will go two hours before trying to pull the reins 
from you again, or perhaps he will go right at it once more. 



7 8 THK RIGHT WAT 

In which case, when he gets a foot ahead, serve him just as 
you did before, when he will come back in a very bad 
temper and stand. His mate goes a foot ahead of him, but 
is not able to draw the high-lived horse and the load too. 
When you see this you must cry out "Whoa!" and the 
low-lived horse will come back and stand even with his 
mate. Let them stand just a moment, then hold a steady 
rein and give the word to start. "They both go well together. 
Now, you have driven them two days in this way, and the 
third day when you give them the word to go, the low-lived 
horse starts, but his mate sticks up his head and dances ; in 
fact, he is afraid to go for fear you will jerk him. Hold a 
kind, steady rein, give him a cut of the whip, and he goes 
right off with his mate. If you have a load on, you must say 
"Whoa !" just after striking him, and as quick as he obeys 
give them the word to go, and they will both start together. 
This will teach the high-spirited horse that he must obey 
those words he was taught to understand from the begin- 
ning. Perhaps it will not be necessary to jerk him any more ; 
but if he ever pulls the eleven pound rein from you again, 
surge him lightly, at the same time saying " Whay !"' when 
he will come right back to his place. Treat them in this 
way for a few days, and each horse will learn to know his 
position, and when they understand this, they will keep their 
place without whipping or jerking, and be no trouble to you. 
Besides, you will have a team that drives right up together, 
and quick and handy to turn to the right or left. 

Here is another team which has learned the habit of start- 
ing just as soon as you pick up the reins, and one is a little 
more willing to start than the other. Give him a jerk, then 
surge them, and say " Whoa !" They commence dancing 



TO DRIVE A HORSE. 79 

and backing up. Give each of them a cut of the whip, and 
say " Whoa !" If they stand perfectly still, slack up on 
your reins and see if they will try to start again. If they 
do, let them go a step or two, then jerk and surge them back 
•to just where they started from, and pronounce the word 
" whoa." Let them stand until you see they are willing to 
obey ; then pull up a tight rein and give them the word to 
go. Practice this for a few days, and they will soon learn 
that they have a right to stand until you give them the 
word to go. 

One of the horses of another team has learned to pull on 
the bit, or hold his head down heavy against it, so that you 
have lost control of his mouth. Shorten his reins four inches 
more than those of the other horse, for a few days, to enable 
you to jerk him without hurting the other horse. One day 
he refused to obey ; you struck him with the whip, and he 
resisted by kicking. When you see that he is preparing to 
kick, jerk and surge him, and every time he kicks strike him 
a sharp cut of the whip. Keep time Avith him, and if he 
kicks ten times, strike him every time, when his hind-feet 
are off the ground ; and just as soon as his feet come down, 
jerk and surge him. If he is too quick in his movements, 
and you cannot strike him every time, hit him as often as 
you can ; but be sure to jerk and surge every time his feet 
alights on the ground, and you will soon see . that they will 
take effect, and he will hold his head up ; you have then the 
advantage, and it is impossible for him to kick. Now, say 
" Whoa !" and surge him down with every foot to the 
ground. Let them stand a minute or two until you see that 
the excitement has cooled down, then start them along on a 
walk. He is satisfied now that you are his master, and he 



80 THE RIGHT WAY 

is willing to obey, because he fears the bit and the whip. He 
is afraid to put his head down in order to kick, because he is 
sure to get jerked on the bit ; and he is also afraid to throw 
up his heels, because he may expect a cut of the whip. If 
you drive according to the instructions laid down, he will 
never kick with you again. 

Here is another team, the low-lived horse of which has 
learned the habit of disobeying when you give them the 
word to start ; and the high-spirited one has learned the 
habit of starting and being driven with a slack rein. When 
you give them the word to go, he starts on the double-quick 
step or on the full jump, and pulls the load and the low-lived 
horse too, and away they go with the slack rein driver, and 
only two-thirds of a load on. The slack rein driver never 
has confidence in his team, and thinks if he does not let them 
learn to start on a double-quick step they will not go at alL 
But the man who has learned his team to start their load 
while pulling up a tight rein of five or seven pounds, has 
confidence in his team to start slowly and both together ; the 
consequence of which is, each horse holds his share of the 
seven pound rein, and the driver is not afraid to put on a 
full load. Now you have taken your team out of the slack 
rein driver's hands ; pull up a tight rein and give them the 
word to go, and the high-lived horse starts on the jump, 
pulling the reins from you and going away ahead of the 
other horse ; but he is not able to draw what you pulled on 
the rein, the low-lived horse and the load too. He jumps 
right back, dances and shakes his head, and is inclined to 
tip on the forward end ; in one word, he is balked. All he 
wants now is to be whipped and told to go. You have 
taught him the bad habit of balking, perhaps for life. When 



TO DRITE A HORSE. 81, 

you have a high- lived horse that acts in this way, always cry 
out ""Whoa!" Let us reason the case. Your high-lived 
horse is angry because you did not push on the reins the 
same as the slack rein driver did, and let him have his own 
way ; he is mad at his mate because he did not start and 
help iiim to draw the load when you gave them the word to 
go ; and he is mad at you because you put on a load he was 
not able to start alone. Now, would it be right to whip the 
high-lived horse and ask him to draw the load, the low-lived 
horse and you too ? No, this would never do. But the 
slack rein driver says you don't know how to drive ; if you 
did, the horse would never balk , with you. He says he 
drove the team four weeks, and the high-lived one was the 
best for drawing of the two ; he would always start just as 
quick as he picked up the reins ; in fact, he says he was too 
free to draw, because he was always a foot or two ahead of 
his mate, and he was the most willing little liorse for pull- 
ing that he ever saw. He never balked with him, and he 
would never balk with you if you knew how to drive. So 
much nonsense for the slack rein driver trying to clear him- 
self If he had whipped the low-lived horse and made him 
obey the word to go, holding a tight rein and the high-lived 
horse back in his place, he would never have balked with 
you. T will tell you just what to do. Pull up a tight rein, 
but don't let them pull a pound, and give the low-lived horse 
three or five sharp cuts of the whip, saying "Whoa !" every 
time after you strike him ; and if you cannot hold them with a 
steady reiii, surge them every time after striking him. Now, 
they bot!i o"bey that word "whoa ;" p*ull up a steady rein and 
give tliem the word to go ; then the low-lived liorse is quick 
to ci\)Q\'. tWy both start together, and then you have no 



82 THE RIGHT WAY 

more trouble. Nine times out of ten it will work with you 
in this way, and this teaches the low-lived horse to fear and 
obey you. When the high- lived horse heard the cracking 
of the whip, it made him also fear and obey you too. The 
moment the fear of disobedience creeps into your high-lived 
horse, the mad temper creeps out ; then he is under your 
control. 

Here is another high-lived horse that balked in the same 
manner as the one mentioned above. When you were done 
whipping the low-lived horse, and said " Whoa I" the high- 
lived horse did not obey ; he kept on dancing. Just give 
him a moment to get ready to stand, with every foot on the 
ground ; then if he don't continue to stand perfectly still, 
give him one or two sharp cuts of the whip, and pronounce 
the word "whoa," with a good deal of authority. Be sure 
and surge him every time after striking him. If you hold a 
high-lived horse with a steady rein and whip him, he is liable 
to resist it by kicking ; so be quick and surge, just after strik- 
ing him, and he can never kick or think of kicking. He is 
satisfied and willing and obeys the word "whoa." Let 
them stand a few moments, then give the word to go, and 
they will both start together. Hold them down on the walk, 
and don't let them think that they were whipped to make 
them go off on the double-quick step ; but let them learn to 
understand that you whipped them for not obeying those 
words that they were taught at first. 

Here is another horse which acts a little differently. When 
you get through whipping the low-lived horse they both obey 
the word "whoa;" but when you tell them to go, the low- 
lived horse starts, and the high-lived one sticks up his head, 
dances and does not pull a pound. Give him a sharp cut of 



TO DRIVE A HORSE. 85 

the whip ; then say " Whoa 1" Let them stand a few 
moments, then try him again, and see if he will go. If he 
does not, serve him just as you did before. Do this a few 
times and he will take hold and draw, and when once you 
conquer him he will not trouble you again. When you have 
him started, if he is inclined to keep up the excitement, 
when they go ten or twenty rods, say "Whoa!" and let 
them stand a few minutes ; this will give a chance for the 
irritability to cool down. It will teach him that he is perfectly 
safe as long as he obeys, and when he knows this you can 
have it all your own way. But you must never let the slack 
rein driver drive them again, unless he is willing to learn 
how to drive and how to handle the reins ; because it is im- 
possible to keep your team well broken and under your con- 
trel, when there are two drivers, and one a slack rein driver; 
because the slack rein driver lets them do almost anything 
they please. He lets them start without giving the word to 
go ; he lets the high-lived one go ahead, and allows the low- 
lived one to remain behind. When you come to drive them, 
they will imagine you have no right to whip them or hold a 
tight rein. Between you both you confuse the team, and 
such driving is enough to raise the temper of any horse. 
You get yourself and team into trouble, just by letting the 
slack rein driver drive them. 

Always when you are driving a draft team, you must be 
careful and learn to use your best judgment. When you 
hitch them to a load that they are not able to draw, it is 
useless to whip and ask them to draw it. When you see that 
each horse draws all he is able to, and does not start the 
load, be quick and cry out "Wheal" and they will never 
lose their courage, but will always have confidence in yo 



-84 THE BIGHT WAY 

and start and draw all they are able to. When you give 
them the word to go, never stand and look at them draw 
until they pull themselves to a stand. By so doing you let 
them learn that they are stuck fast ; they Avill give up pull- 
ing and become completely discouraged, and will lose all 
confidence in your word when you give them the word to go. 
They will act more like balking than drawing. Never whip 
the small horse to make -him draw as much as the large one ; 
but give him one or two inches the advantage by having his 
end of the eavener two inches longer than that of the other 
horse's. A horse that has always been driven before some 
light vehicle must also not be compelled to draw as much as 
a horse that is accustomed to heavy loads, until he has had 
some practice. Always consider and reason the case, and 
do justice to each horse. Be quick and ready to whip the 
low- lived horse when it is necessary. Make him obey the 
word to go, and he will always be willing to obey the word 
" whoa." Be cautious and careful not to whip the high-lived 
horse for every quick step he takes, until you see it is 
likely to become a habit; then cut him with the whip and 
make him obey the word "whoa," and he will always be 
quick and ready to obey the word to go. When you use 
your whip, do so in earnest, and be sure that your horse is 
willing to obey before you give up whipping. If you get 
scared and afraid, and let jonr horse go off and have it 
partly his own way, it were better you had not struck him 
at all. When you are whipping, never try to strike your 
horsG sixiy times in a minu;.">, but whip according to tho 
rules and instructions laid down hero, and then thera will 
alwiys ho a fair u.idji'.ir/.iiii'n^ botv\^3G!i yo i and yjur horse. 
When he refuses to obey, ho learns to knov/- that he will be 



TO DRIVE A HORSK. 85 

punished. When your horse has the fear of disobedience 
and is willing to obey, always be sure and treat him kindly at 
all times. 



A WORD TO THOSE WHO DRIVE IN SINGLE 
HARNESS. 

The instructions I have already imparted in this little 
book is necessary for you to know, and they will answer as 
well for the horse that is driven in the single harness, as the 
one that is driven in the double harness ; but as it is a little 
more difficult to drive one horse than it is two, it is necessary 
to give a little more instructions how to drive. When you 
pick up the reins, pull up about five pounds and squeak for 
him to go. In pulling the five pound rein, it prevents him 
from learning the habit of starting on the jump, and it also 
teaches him to hold up his head. When you see he is 
ready to start on a walk, let him go with a three pound rein. 
When he walks one mile, one rod or one step, pull up a 
seven pound rein and squeak, and he will start off on a trot. 
When he does this, let him go with a five pound rein. By 
holding a steady rein of five pounds, it kefps him from learn- 
ing habits that horses will learn that are driven with a slack 
rein. Pulling up a five pound rein makes him hold up his 
head in style, and gives him the appearance of being a good, 
free driving horse. When he trots a mile, one-half or one- 
fourth of a mile, say " Whay 1" and let him walk up and 
down hills. Never ask him to trot two, three or seven 
miles up and down, as this will very likely break down his 
constitution ; then he will trot more like a dog than a horse, 
or perhaps he will never trot again. There are hundreds of 
7 



86 THE RIGHT WAY 

good high-lived horses that have lost their lives by letting 
them have their own way, and allowing them to trot, trot, 
up hill and down, until they become completely exhausted, 
and fall down and die. So try and use good judgment and 
the word "whay," and make them obey. "When he walks 
a few rods, it gives him a chance to get his lungs full of air ; 
then he is ready to start on the trot again . 

Now he is coming up to a bridge, you say " Whay !" and 
he holds up and walks. He is afraid of the bridge. He 
walks very slowly. You hold a steady rein of three or five 
pounds, and give him the word to go, but he pays no atten- 
tion to yoU; and he is just going to stop. Give him one 
sharp cut of the whip, and if he jumps to the right, jerk him 
with the left, and say '• Whoa !" then he stops. He has 
shown you that if you strike him again he will whirl around 
and tip you over. Get out of the buggy and unhitch him, 
and run the buggy back a few steps ; take the reins out of 
the turret-rings and run them through the thill-straps. 
Now stand behind your horse, and pull up a steady rein, 
and give him the word to go ; then give him one cut of the 
whip. Strike him in earnest, and if he whirls around from 
the bridge, then jerk and surge him, and cut him with the 
whip four or five times. Surge him every time after strik- 
ing him ; then say " Whoa !" As soon as he obeys the word 
"whoa," give him the Vv^ord to go, and rein him around to 
the bridge again. If he appears to be afraid, speak to him 
kindly, telling him to go. Just as he puts his foot on the 
bridge, he whirls around again. Treat him as you did be- 
fore; and when you rein him up to the bridge again, he goes 
across it like a leaf tremblingon a tree. He is afraid of the 
bridge, and he is still more afraid of the whip. He will 






TO DRIVE A HORSE. 87 

never try to whirl around again to get surged, jerked and 
cut with the whip. When he gets across the bridge, say 
" Whoa !" Go up to him, pat and caress him. In this way 
you give him courage to go across it again. You are teach- 
ing him to have . confidence in you ; you are showing him 
that you do not want to whip him ; and you will not, if he 
only obeys those words he was taught to understand. Now 
you can drive him across the bridge a couple of times, then 
hitch him to the buggy and start along again. If this is the 
first time he ever disobeyed in this way, I will guarantee he 
will never trouble you again. You have taught him to fear, 
love and obey 3^ou, and he will alwa3^s have confidence in 
your word, and be free and willing to go wherever you guide 
him with the reins ; but you must never ask him to go where 
it is impossible to do so. 

Here is another horse that has been driven with a slack 
rein, and allowed to have partly his own way ; he drives all 
on one rein. When he goes down hill he holds his head on 
the left side and his hind-quarters on the right, and goes 
bobbing down the hill sideways. When a horse acts in this 
manner, never keep crying "Whay!" "Whoa!" "Whay!" 
" Whoa !" Hold a steady rein, and rein him to the left side 
of the road. Now you have his head turned around as far 
to the left as you can get it, give him one good jerk with the 
right rein and surge him lightly, and say " Whay !" Do this 
as often as it is necessary. Perhaps you will get a chance 
to jerk him three or four times on the first hill you drive him 
down. Do this and he will soon take the hint not to put his 
head around to one side to get it jerked to the other. He 
has also learned the habit of tr^nng to turn in and stop at 
every house you come to. 



88 THK RIGHT WAT 

Here is a house on the left side of the road, and jour 
horse is turning in to stop. You pull three pounds on the 
right rein and two on the left, and your horse turns his head 
to the right and keeps going sideways. Give him one sharp 
cut of the whip on the left side, then jerk him with the left 
rein, and surge him until he is straight again in the thills; 
then rein him into the road, and be sure and hold him down 
on the walk until you see he is willing to walk. When he 
turns his head around to the right side, or if he turns it to 
the left, never strike him on the left side, but strike him on 
the right; and when he turns it to the right, strike him on 
the left. Here is another way to treat him : when he turns 
to the right to stop at a house, hold a steady rein of three or 
five pounds, and let him go up to the gate and stop ; then just 
as quick as he stops, give him one sharp cut of the whip on 
the right side, then surge him until you see if you can hold 
him down on the walk with an eleven pound rein, and rein 
him out on the road. Treat him in this way a few times, and 
you will find you have his habits completely broken up. He 
will not try to go to one side or the other until you guide 
him with the reins. 

Here is another horse, and you have lost control of one 
side of his mouth. You can rein him to the left ; but when 
you try to turn him to the right, he holds his head stiff 
against the rein, and you can never turn him around short. 
"When you are driving him on the road, make a practice of 
reining him to the left side of it. Now try and rein him to 
the right. Pull three or five pounds on the right hand rein ; 
he holds his head stiff against the steady pull of the rein ; 
ease up on the right rein and jerk him. If he starts to 
trot, surge and say " Whay !" Do this, and he will soon 
learn to go to the right with a steady pull on the rein. 



TO DRIVE A HORSE. 89 

Here is another horse that has been driven with a harsh 
bit, and he has so much fear of it that when you tell him to 
go, he will stick up his head and dance, or perhaps rear up. 
When he acts in this manner, do not pull more than one or 
two pounds on the reins until you get him started. Now 
give him the w^ord to go ; then give him a cut of the whip. 
He starts on the jump ; hold him with the five or eleven 
pound rein until he goes six or seven rods ; then say 
"Whoa !" and if he don't obey, surge him. Let him stand 
a few moments, and this will teach him that he w^as not 
w^hipped to make him trot or run, but that you punished him 
for not obejang the word to go. If he rears up, do not pull 
a pound on the reins when he is up, but be sure and cut him 
with the whip around the hind legs. If he springs ahead 
and comes down all right, hold him with the five or eleven 
pound rein, or surge hirn if it is necessar}^; but you must let 
him go five or seven rods before you stop him. Treat him 
in this way, and he will soon learn that he can start right off 
just as quick as he hears the word to go. You can do this 
just as I say, if your horse has not learned other habits, 
such as balking, kicking, bolting, plunging and running 
away. When he learns any of these habits, you must have 
him broken over again. 

Here is another horse, and he has a little too much fear of 
the v/hip, and not enough fear of the bit When you squeak 
for him to go, he starts on the jump, and sometimes when he 
is walking, if you make the least move, he thinks you are 
going to strike him, and he jumps and almost jerks you out 
of the buggy. Pull up a steady rein and squeak for him to 
go. When he jumps give him a sudden pull, and that sets 
him back ; then surge him and squeak, and he starts off with 



90 THE RIGHT WAY 

his head up in the air. He is afraid to jump again. "When 
he is walking, make a move as if you were getting ready to 
strike him, and he jumps. Treat him just as you did before, 
and sometimes after surging it will do well to give him a 
cut of the whip. This shows him it is useless to jump and 
try to get away from the whip. When you strike, surge 
him again, then hold him with a five or eleven pound rein, 
squeak, and let him go off on the walk. Treat him in this 
way for a few days, and he will learn to have as much fear 
of the bit as he has of the whip ; then he will not jump when 
you squeak for him to go. A.lways bear in mind and learn 
to pull up on your reins, and hold a tight rein. Jerk, surge 
and handle the reins just as I say, and you will keep control 
of your horse's mouth ; you can then hold him with one 
hand with an eleven pound rein, cut him with the whip, and 
make him obey the word "whoa," or any other word he was 
taught to understand. If he ever gets scared and starts to 
run away, just one jerk or surge and the word "whay" 
makes him walk right along and attend to his own business. 
Or if he ever attempts to kick, treat him in the same way, 
and it will be impossible for him to do so. Believe me, dear 
reader, you will find it to work with you just as I say, 
when you have control of the mouth; but if you are driving 
a horse, and have lost all control of its mouth, or perhaps 
you never had got control of it, he can kick or run away, 
and jerking or surging will take no effect. 



THE WAY TO TRAIN A HORSE TO TROT. 

Every man that tries to train a horse to trot his full speed, 
it is necessary for him to know how to drive, and have some 



TO DRIVE A HORSE. 91 

practice and good judgment. If he does not understand his 
business, he is liable to teach the horse to pull on the bit ; 
then he is liable to run away or learn the habit of kicking. 
If the horse has been driven according to my instructions, 
you will not have to teach him to hold on the bit ; but if he 
has always been driven with a slack rein, the first thing you 
must teach him is to hold on the bit five or seven pounds. 
Now, drive him on the trotting course and give him his first 
lesson. Pull up a seven pound rein and squeak for him to 
go. If he does not know how to start when you hold a tight 
rein, give him three or five sharp cuts of the whip, and surge 
or jerk him every time after striking him, if it is necessary. 
When you see that you can hold him with an eleven pound 
rein, you must not surge him any more, unless he shows you 
some signs of kicking. Just as quick as you get through 
whipping and surging, squeak and let him start on the trot 
with a ten pound rein. When he trots four or five rods, com- 
mence letting out on the reins by degrees, until you let them 
out about five or seven pounds ; but if he is tender bitted, 
you had better teach him to trot with the five pound rein. 
He holds the five pounds on the bit, and trots very well 
until he goes eighty or ninety rods, then he commences to 
hold up. Keep pulling a five pound rein, and do not click 
or squeak until he walks, then draw up your eleven pound 
rein and cut him with the whip two or three times, then 
squeak for him to go, and let him start just as you did the 
first time. This teaches him that he must hold the five 
pounds on the bit, and also that when you start him off" on 
the trot, he must never dare to hold up and walk until you 
pull the eleven pound rein and pronounce the word •' whay." 
Just as quick as you let him have the five pound rein he 



92 THE RIGUT WAY 

Starts on the gallop, commence jerking with both reins to- 
gether, keeping time with every jump. Ease up on your 
reins and let him jump, then jerk him just as quick as he 
strikes the ground, but you must not jerk him too hard. 
Let him run as fast as he could trot. Jerking him in this 
wa}^ will teach him that it is his jumping and gallop- 
ing which is the cause of the bit jerking and jarring his 
mouth every time he alights on the ground. He learns that 
galloping in this manner is a hard way to travel, and he will 
soon take the hint and strike out on a trot. If he does 
not do this before he goes ten or fifteen rods, pull up a steady 
rein of eleven pounds and rein him a little to the right and 
left, and say " Whay T' and he strikes out on' the trot ; 
squeak, and he trots off all right. When he trots a mile or 
one-half, pull up your eleven pound rein, and say " Whay 1" 
then rein him off the track, and say " Whoa !". Get out of 
your sulky, pat and caress him, lead him around and give 
him all kinds of good treatment. Practice in this way and 
he will soon learn what he goes on the track for ; and when 
you pull up on your reins, and give him the word to go, he 
will start right off and hold five pounds on the bit, and trot 
his mile without squeaking, whipping or surging. Now he 
understands you, and he knows just what you want him to do ; 
that is, to trot. You can now teach him to put in his best 
steps and trot his full speed, by cracking your whip and 
using the w^ord "get," or the word "yep." When you 
urge him to go, he starts on the gallop. Jerk him with the 
left and strike him on the right, and jerk him with the right 
and strike him on the left. Do this with him three or five 
times ; but you must keep time w^ith every jump, jerking him 
when he alights on the ground, and striking him when he is 



TO DRIVK A HUBSE. 93 

up off the ground. When you get through whipphig, rein 
him a little to the right and left, and he strikes out on the 
trot, going his full speed. "When a horse is trotting his 
full speed, you must keep still. It is useless to ask a horse 
to do more than he is able to. If you persist, and such was 
the cause of him breaking the trot, you must not punish him 
for it. If you see he is likely to break, pull your nine or 
eleven pound rein, and if he breaks, rein him a little to the 
right and left and he will strike on the trot again. Give 
him practice, as practice will always make him perfect. 
When you have your horse trained in this way, a boy ten 
years old has strength enough to hold and drive him with 
perfect ease, for he is not like the horse that has learned to 
pull on the bit. It is a very great mistake to teach your 
horse to pull on the bit, as long as you know the horse is 
the strongest. Where is the man who can lead a horse with 
the halter if he is not broken to lead, so that he will not pull 
back on the halter ? Well then, where is the man who can 
hold a horse vrith the bit if he is not broken to it, and taught 
that he must never dare to pull over eleven pounds on the 
bit ? The horse that is driven according to my instructions 
will never require any of the over-checks, or standing 
martingals or harsh bits. When you puU up your five or 
seven pound rein, and squeak for him to go, you will see that 
his head v*-ill be up in style. 



ALL HARSH BITS CONDEMNED. 

I condemn all harsh bits for these reasons : First, a horse 
has a right to hold five or seven pounds on the bit, and it is 



94 THE RIGHT WAY 

impossible for him to do this with any bit except the round 
straight bar-bit, without pinching his mouth and making it 
sore. When you drive with a harsh bit, your horse is con- 
stantly in misery, and it is liable to raise the temper of any 
horse; you get yourself into trouble, and your horse learns 
the habit of rearing up and balking, all of which is caused by 
using the harsh bit. The bit that all horse- trainers use for 
their kicking bridle never ought to be used, that is, the com- 
mon snaffle-bit. When you put this bit in the colt's mouth, 
you can buckle up the head-stall as short as you please, and 
the bit will kink down in the centre, so that the colt can get 
his tongue over the bit, and perhaps it will become a habit. 
When you pull up your five or seven pound rein, it causes 
the bit to shut up tight against each side of the mouth, 
something like a jack-knife, but not quite so sharp. It 
makes the mouth raw and sore on each side. When you pull 
on the right or left rein to turn him to the right or left, it 
pulls the bit right straight back, and it is much harder for 
the colt to understand the pull of the rein with such a bit. 
If the colt starts up and pulls a little more on the bit than 
five pounds, the bit gives and shuts up a little tighter, and 
when the colt feels the bit giving, it gives him courage to 
jump and pull on it again and try to get away, for he 
imagines it is broken. If you jerk and surge with such a 
bit, it will not take as much effect on the horse's mouth as the 
straight bit will. When you jerk the straight bit with the 
right hand rein, it strikes the lower jaw on the right side, and 
the upper jaw on the left side ; this makes the horse open 
his mouth, and it is impossible for him over to hold the bit 
in his teeth. When you jerk the snaffle-bit it only strikes 
one side of the lower jaw ; and when you get through jerk- 



TO DRIVE A HORSE. 95 

ing and surging, your horse is afraid to try to hold five or 
seven pounds on the bit, because the bit pinches his mouth. 
So you can see you have your horse under punishment all 
the time, it makes no difference whether he is doing right or 
wrong. When he pulls too hard on the bit, you jerk and 
surge him ; when he tries to hold five or seven pounds on 
the bit, your bit pinches and hurts his mouth, and in this 
way you confuse him and he never learns to know what you 
mean. You are liable to teach him to become vicious and 
full of resentment and revenge ; then he is liable to kick, 
balk or run away, and the cause of all this is the snaffle-bit, 
but any other harsh bit has the same effect. If you are 
driving a horse whose mouth you have lost control of, and 
he has learned the habit of running away or that of pulling 
on the bit, when you drive him with the curb or chain-bit, 
it never breaks up these habits. Perhaps you can hold him 
with the curb-bit, but he will fret and sweat just as much as 
he ever did, and you will soon have him taught so that he 
Avill be afraid to start, so that you will have to push on the 
reins and drive with slack reins. Take the curb-bit out of 
his mouth and put the straight bit in, and he will pull on the 
bit just as hard as ever, and run away just as quick. So 
you can see that the harsh bit never tells your horse he is 
doing wrong, besides you keep him in misery all his life- 
time, just because you never learned the right way to bit 
him and get control of the mouth. But if you learn the 
correct way to drive, you can keep control with a straight 
bit ; then you can see you did wrong in ever driving with a 
harsh bit. 



9G THK KIGHT WAV 



CONCLUSION. 



Before 1 close, I wish to make a few r^iOre remarks, and 
then I. am done. If the instructions I have laid dow-n how to 
drive the horse in the right way are properly followed, I w-ill 
guarantee they will be found to w^ork with you just as I say. 
I have found them to do so with every horse I have ever 
broken, and will be found similarly efficacious with any other 
horse, if broken to the bit and taught to obey those words 
necessary for him to understand. But when horses get 
excited that have been accustomed to slack rein driving, you 
lose all control of the mouth. Driving horses tha-t are 
allow^ed to pull on the bit just when they please, or per- 
mitted to start without getting the w^ord to do so, or click- 
ing five or six times to get them to go, or crying " Whoa!" 
four or five times to get them to stop, and in order to make 
them stand you have to keep crying ""Whoa!" — driving 
horses in this way is all chance w^ork, and they were never 
half broken. 

If you try to w^hip, jerk or surge such horses as these, it 
is doubtful whether you can make them obey or not. A 
horse that has been broken to the bit and taught to know 
that he must obey those w^ords he Avas taught to understand, 
when he disobeys, you can cut him with the whip and make 
him obey ; but the horse that never was thoroughly broken 
to the bit, and taught that he must obey those words that 
are necessary for him to understand, when you whip him he 
has no chance to know what he was whipped for, because 
you never taught him to know what was right or what was 
wrong. If you whip such a horse as this he is liable to run 
away, kick or balk. It is impossible for any man to hold a 



^ 



TO DRIVE A HORSE. 97 

horse and cut him with the whip if he is not broken to the 
bit. Every man who has the natural ability to break tho 
horse will do well to take a lesson in my school-room, and 
learn the right way to bit and break the horse. If you 
would try to drive your horse by kindness, and never whip, 
jerk or surge him, you will teach him so that he will have no 
fear of you ; then he will learn to disobey, and when you 
speak to him he will pay no attention to you, but he will 
give his attention to everything else, and will be afraid of 
everything he sees. You will lose all control of him. On 
the contrary, if you try to drive your horse bj' whipping, and 
never jerk, surge or treat him kindly, you will teach him to 
pull on the bit, and he will become vicious and run away ; 
or if you punish him by jerking and surging, and not whip 
him, you teach him to rear up and balk. I want you to see 
that you can spoil a horse and teach him bad habits by kind- 
ness or whipping, jerking or surging ; and yet they are all 
necessary, each and every one of them, in their proper 
places. Treat your horse according to the rules and regula- 
tions laid down here, and you can always make him obey 
you. 

Now, you have the right and the wrong way to drive the 
horse, so do not be tossed about by every man's opinion as 
to which is the right way. Any man who says he can take 
any horse that has learned the habit of kicking, balking or 
running away, and break up these habits in two or three hours, 
is a humbug. They may get master of the horse so that 
they can have control of him for one day, but the next day 
he is just as balky as ever. To break up any of those habits 
it will take a number of days, and the longer the habit is 
standing, the longer it will take to break up. 



98 THE RIGHT WAY TO DRIVE A HORSE. 

Now, dear reader, all these instructions may be relied on, 
as they have been practically demonstrated b}" myself, under 
great obstacles, while driving in the States of New York and 
Pennsylvania, where the water and mud on the roads were 
often two or three feet deep and the rocks all sizes. My 
advice to you is to drive your horse in the right way, and 
you will see that you can get through without difficulty, 
while other men will get only into trouble and not know 
what to do. 



N.B. — Those wishing to purchase this book (price 50 cts.) 
can do so by addressing the author, 

JOHN DEENEY, 
East Java, Wyoming Co., N. Y. 



THE 



FA HM Kirs AND HOUSEMAN'S 



GUIDE TO DKIVE THE HOUSE 



TII?: RIOHT AND WjJONO WAY TO DKIVE A HORSE 
FULLY E:xrOSLr) AND EXPLAINED. 



JOHN DEE]NEY 



N E W Y U K K 
McGEE <t WAKREN, PRINTERS, j^V EROADWAY 

18*72. 



r 



All}' person having an ungovernable horse, addicted 
to balking, kiclving, bolting, running away, or an}- other 
bad habit, and which inexperienced men have failed to 
remove, will find it advantageous to apply to the author 
Ijoforo iho habit b'^comes of too long standing. From 
n prolonged experience in the management of iiors^s, I 
feel confident of success ; and actuated through a motive 
of candor and sincerity, I solicit the patronage of those 
troubled with unmanngeahle hoi'ses, ."-Should I fail to 
accomplish what 1 pi'ofess to do, the ti-ial shall be gratis. 



&L 












C C^CCci;^ ^KC^;^^<<rCcCC^ ^r^-O CC 
C' C<^<^MLCc^^^^^^<f^^C CCC 

r C«<; ^ Cj^JCC^^CC: <r.((CjC^^C ^^ 
«,<cc:^ c <:40cc5cc < c CC '(cc^ c «- n 

c( ^t^^Kc ■ c^c:c^c c: cc^^:c.c.cc ^ 

rx ^szm CCJCC^^C C^cc<:<rc ^< 
<■ r ^^<x< c ^^ccc<ic <c:c<:<'-c:<c^c «c 

' ^^C<^ C C: ^ CdCCC CXC^r CC c^^ 

«ICC? CC CCI^CKCC CCCC<jC.C <li^ 

' mz^ CC^ CC C^€C CCSCC CC «: c CLC c ^^^ 

^"^CC CC C^Cl C«s-C< C"C CC<jC < 

err ( c<«: <c<ox<:ccccc c< 

^cccr ^ ccm: cccc CC ccCiC c 
\cc CC cid c§:c^cc cc<<: c 

^^CL^<3KI"C^-^c 
^cccc c d^^^^-^- ^cc C<^( < 

^c'TC /v C5HI cccxcc <r cc<<. ^■ 

--"^ c cc cat: <:cc<ccc cc<i< < 
.«^occ catccicc ccci < 

: ^ CvCC^ ^^8Ki^'C$ CC C.<.<1 ^ 



CC CC<Ce 
CC CCCCf 



C5CC ' 
<cCC^ 

<scc 



<^tcc ccc: ^ 

^f CC 
- <Cc- CC 

^C'<i'KC ^c:c 

:^cc<i:(c ^cc 






®c c C' S 






t^^C^'-', ^^^^sS.c 






S:'<cy o<ac^cc<xv< 






cccc 

(( r 



<^<c:^^5ce <x^<m>? 



^3ttx 












aj^^<^«.c ^<rc 






xacx 



-fc^Cia 



rcCCO 






^5^^'^: 






^^c^^oc^^ 









€:^<c v«i^S^ 



C5 C^C^c>< 






